


Book 1: Gates of Helheim

by devil_dm



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Adventure, D&D, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Gray Morality, Loads of characters, M/M, Multi, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Sad Backstories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2019-09-12 14:30:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 47,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16874643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devil_dm/pseuds/devil_dm
Summary: Trouble is stirring in the Nine Worlds as Hel, the goddess of death, plots to open the Nine Gates to Helheim and allow the Dead to flood back into the realms. Novice wizard Acheron Blackfire is assigned to deal with this. Will he succeed and become a hero, or fail and watch nine worlds die because of his failure? Book 1 of my DnD series. Rated T for violence and language.





	1. The Prophecy

**Hey there! I'm Devil DM. I used to be in FanFiction as Virgo626, but I moved here because of problems with the site and for a fresh start. Here is where I'll be posting all my DnDverse junk.**

**This story is classified as a Dungeons and Dragons story, but when I do these types of campaigns, I tend to borrow characters or concepts from other fandoms, usually with my own spin on them. At the beginning of each chapter, I will specify which characters are original and which aren't. I will also state which of my cowriters/players, if any, played or created the characters.**

**This story will use Norse and Forgotten Realms mythology, and some things in here are not accurate about Norse mythology.**

* * *

**Acheron Blackfire (me), Aroconus Blackfire (Angle), Miri La'arnie (IQ), Ea Art (IQ), Barry Starsplitter (me), and Nexa Surge (me) are all original.**

**Levi Grace was based off Levi Ackerman, but I changed him up a bit.**

**Harleia Tormentor is basically Harley Quinn, but also altered a bit.**

**Their introduction scenes are parodies of the Deadshot and Harley Quinn intros from Suicide Squad.**

**Dworgyn is from the game Wizard101 with some elements of Mad Eye Moody from Harry Potter.**

**Cassandra Truth is based off the mythological figure of the same name.**

**Claire Voyanté is based off the Seer from Once Upon a Time.**

**Alassra Silverhand and Evenyl Nathtalond are from the Forgotten Realms.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Prophecy

Acheron Blackfire had always steered clear of the cave on the far side of camp.

The cave’s entrance was always obscured by a thick, ethereal mist. Sometimes he could hear a woman’s chanting from inside, though he could never make out any words, and for all he knew, it could have been in another language.

Most of the campers of the Camp of Magic had different theories about the cave. Some said that the ghost of Syluné Silverhand haunted the cave, though Acheron knew that story was bull. Syluné Silverhand was a Spectral Harpist, and any person who knew what was going on knew that a Spectral Harpist was a special type of ghost exclusive to the Harpers guild.

Others said a mysterious monster lived in there. Perhaps a night hag, or a chromatic dragon in human form, but Acheron also thought this was bull. Monsters at the Camp of Magic were held in the Forest of Monsters, and Thorneira Thalance maintained strong and powerful wards around it. The cave had no magical restrictions.

Others thought it was a metallic dragon in human form, which could have been a more likelier story. But no one had actually went to investigate. Not even the teachers knew. And no one knew if Alassra Silverhand, the founder of the Camp of Magic, knew what it was and wasn't telling, or just flat out didn't know.

“Are you looking at the cave  _ again _ ?” Called a voice.

Acheron turned to see his twin brother Aroconus Blackfire coming up towards him up the hill.

Even though they were twins, they only looked alike in their facial features, eye shape, and ear shape. Acheron had fiery red hair with hints of brown and amber, along with copper eyes that seemed to ignite when he got angry. Aroconus, on the other hand, had light brown hair and soft sky blue eyes.

As half elves, both of them had almond shaped eyes and slightly pointed ears. However, Acheron’s skin was tinged with bronze, while Aroconus had a perfect pale complexion, like porcelain.

Acheron usually wore the Robe of the Archmage, which he had obtained during a training exercise outside of camp. He had burned off the bottom part, which made it look like a dress, so it was just a hooded white and gold tunic over a red shirt with a white and gold cloak over it. He didn't need a wand, as he had discovered that he had a natural knack for wandless and wordless magic.

Aroconus wore a dark blue Robe of Stars, also retrieved from the training exercise. It was embroidered with magical stars that displace light, which makes it hard for ranged attack to be effective against him. Currently, six large stars at the collar allowed him to cast magic missile with no power necessary. At every dawn, if he used any stars, they were replaced. On lucky days, he'd get extra stars. On unlucky days, he'd get only one or two extra. He always carried a beech wand with him.

According to wandlore, a beech wand was usually paired up with a wizard who was intelligent and wise beyond his years, which could describe Aroconus. Acheron just called him a nerd. Before he switched to wandless magic, Acheron’s wand had been blackthorn, the wood of a warrior. Did that mean anything? Acheron could possibly find out if he had the chance.

Acheron huffed. “So what if I am?”

“No one knows what's there,” Aroconus said. “Not for sure, at least.”

“That's what bothers me,” Acheron muttered.

“Come on, Miri and the others are waiting, and it's time for classes,” Aroconus reminded him.

Acheron groaned.  _ Studying _ . He hated classes. He wished they learned their magic more actively. He wished they could learn on the job, not read boring textbooks. No one listened to his complaints though. He had only set fire to  _ one _ cabin, and it hadn't been destroyed, just a little charred.

“ _ Acheron _ ,” Aroconus said, his tone hard. People always thought the older siblings was the responsible and disciplined one, but this was not the case. Aroconus was the younger twin brother and was definitely more responsible, disciplined, calm, and basically everything Acheron wasn't.

“Fine, fine, I'm coming. Don't get your boxers in a wad,” Acheron grumbled as he followed his brother down the hill. Four figures were waiting at the base of the hill.

“Did you go in? What was in there? Was it scary?” Acheron was instantly bombarded by questions from Ea Art. She was a young tiefling, about fourteen years old, with purple tinged crimson hair, large gold eyes, a pale pink skin tone, and small purple horns that pointed downwards. She was wearing dual colored robes, half pale pink, and half bright crimson.

“No Ea, I didn't go in,” Acheron answered her. “Aroconus,” he jabbed a thumb at his brother. “stopped me.”

Ea began to chew out Aroconus and Aroconus slowly backed away from her.

Acheron glanced at the others: Barrey Starsplitter, Nexa Surge, and Miri La’arnie.

Barrey had a lithe but muscular build, with wavy dirty blonde hair streaked with amber and golden brown eyes. He was wielding a plain golden robe and had two magical swords at his belt.

Nexa was deathly pale with long, lustrous black curls cascading down her back and black eyes that had subtle flecks of silver. She wore pure black robes with diamonds sewn into the fabric. She was pretty, but she always radiated a strong aura of death and danger. She wasn't Acheron’s ideal girl.

Miri was almost as pale as Nexa, but she had splashes of light pink color in her cheeks and nose. She had long raven hair tied back in a braid and icy blue eyes. She wore a sleeveless knee length silver dress, a black cloak, and black boots. She was beautiful but she was always downplaying it. 

“Come on, Ea, classes are starting!” Aroconus cried.

“Ohhhhh, riiiiiight,” Ea said. “What are we waiting for? Come on!” she started skipping towards the buildings.

The others followed.

“We have a class with Dworgyn again today,” Miri said.

“Ugh, not him,” Aroconus grumbled. Dworgyn was the darkness and necromancy teacher, but Aroconus’s magic dealt with life and healing. He didn't really like the strong dark aura Dworgyn always seemed to carry.

Acheron didn't see the problem. Dworgyn was a great guy. He was interesting. Dworgyn taught more active classes, and if they were just reading, he made sure to make it interesting.

They walked into Dworgyn’s cabin. It was made of dark wood with a grinning skull symbol above the door. The inside was just as dark, illuminated by torches lit with faerie fire. The floor was slanted downward with benches rising out of the floor and desks above the benches. Acheron slumped into one near the back and Miri sat next to him.

“Do you have to slouch?” she hissed.

“Yes,” Acheron replied, just to annoy her. 

“Tch,” Miri averted her gaze from him.

Aroconus and Barrey were sitting in front of them, and Nexa and Ea sat in front of them.

Barrey turned around, “Miri, don't let him get under your skin. He's probably just picking on you because he likes you.”

“I don't like her!” Acheron exclaimed. He immediately regretted his outburst, seeing a bit of hurt flash in Miri’s eyes. “I mean, not in  _ that  _ way. I mean, she's okay, I mean… never mind.”

Aroconus snorted. “Smooth move, Ex Lax. The day you get a girlfriend is the day a cow flies.”

“Shut up!” Acheron snapped.

“I’d like to see a cow fly!” Ea piped up.

“Of course you do,” Nexa grumbled.

Clearly, they were all the best of friends. 

“Silence everyone! The class is starting!” a loud voice called and a small figure began making his way to the front of the room.

Dworgyn was a tall halfling, about 4’5”, but he was permanently hunched over from always bending over to get through the small doorways of halfling society. His face looked like it was roughly carved from wood, and he had shoulder length, stringy dark gray hair and a long, forked beard. He was wearing a black robe and carried a wooden staff with a lantern dangling from the top. One of his eyes was dark gray and small, while the other was a larger gold false eye that moved around independently from the other.

Everyone instantly quieted down and watched Dworgyn make his way down to the front, his staff and boots clicking against the floor.

“Today we will be going over death procedures to make sure you know everything we need to know,” Dworgyn said. He had a growling, accented voice.

“Now, will someone name me the most common afterlives?” the halfling asked.

Acheron raised his hand. Just because he wasn't an ideal student didn't mean he didn't answer questions. “Valhalla.” He answered. “That's where the dead who die in combat go.”

“Not quite,” Dworgyn began pacing as he explained. “Not all those who die in combat go there. And sometimes, people who don't die in combat go there. Only the worthy go. Before they get in, they die making a sacrifice. They save people. They are heroes.”

_ Heroes, huh?  _ Acheron thought.

“They become einherjar, and they are faster, stronger, and more durable than regular mortals. Some of the older einherjar even reach levels of their abilities thought impossible by others,” Dworgyn said.

“Valhalla has an infinite number of floors, and has exits into each of the Nine Worlds. Valhalla is overseen by Odin, the All-Father and god of wisdom, and his honored thanes,” Dworgyn said. “Any other afterlives?” he looked around.

“Folkvangar,” Aroconus said.

“But Folkvangar is just a flipside of Valhalla, isn't it?” a student spoke up.

“Folkvangar is where those who lived a hero’s life, but did not die in combat or sacrifice, go” Dworgyn countered. “There, their youth is restored. They are also known as einherjar and have the same benefits as the einherjar from Valhalla. This afterlife is overseen by Freya, the goddess of beauty, war, and death.”

“She's a goddess of war and death too?” Ea’s eyes widened.

“Yes. People tend to forget that,” Dworgyn said.

“Helheim is an afterlife, right? I heard it's not a very good one,” Barrey said. 

“Damn right it isn't,” Dworgyn said. “It’s where the folks who died of sickness, old age, or suicide go. Villains go there too. It's overseen by Hel, the cruel goddess of the dishonorable dead. No one wants to go there.”

The class shuddered. 

“There are nine gates to Helheim, one in each of the Nine Worlds,” Dworgyn explained. “But they remain closed. If they should open, the dead would be able to flood back into the rest of the Nine Worlds.”

“What keeps the portals from opening?” Aroconus asked.

“No one knows,” Dworgyn said with a shrug. “But whatever it is, it's worked. For centuries, the gates have remained closed. You all have nothing to worry about.”

The class continued, with Dworgyn explaining various other minor afterlives. At the sound of the horn, Dworgyn shooed them out of the cabin as he barked, “Quiz about afterlives tomorrow, don't forget!”

Acheron was one of the last few people out. He probably shouldn't have heard it, but he heard Dworgyn mutter to himself, “Best they all think that.”

_ Think what? _ Acheron thought. He didn't know what the paranoid old halfling was talking about, but he wanted to find out. What was he keeping from them?

Dworgyn rose up the slanted floor. He caught a glance of Acheron, and scowled. “What are you doing here, Blackfire? Don't you have lunch right now?”

“Yes, I do,” Acheron replied.

“Go on then, kid, catch up with your friends,” Dworgyn said, waving his hand.

Acheron wanted to argue that they weren't his friends, just his classmates. He didn't have any friends. But Dworgyn was already hobbling away.

He had two choices: he could go to lunch immediately and have to put up with an hour of Aroconus, Miri, Ea, Nexa, and Barrey, or he could follow Dworgyn and find out what he was keeping from them.

Acheron took Option Two.

 

Sweat ran down the man’s face. A drop rolled into his gray eye, and he squeezed it shut as he continued throwing punches at the punching bag in front of him. He had thrown off his white shirt and gray jacket, his dark hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.

A small window in the cell door opened and a gruff man’s voice snapped, “Lunch time, Levi.”

Levi Grace scowled and stalked over to the door. “Only me friends call me Levi.”

The guard laughed. “You have no friends,  _ Levi _ .”

He shoved a tray into the cell. It had a bowl of watery soup and some bread.

“Let me tell you something,” Levi could tell now that this was the guard that he hated, and the feeling was mutual. “One day, somehow, some way, I'm going to get out of here, and I'm going to rain down in you like Vidar.”

The guard grinned and Levi realized his mistake. “You just threatened a staff member.” He licked his lips. “Let’s have some fun.”

Levi was dragged from his cell and chained to a pole with his back facing the Whipwoman. Her name told a lot about her. All of Scarlet Prison heard the screams of the tortured criminal.

A former captain, a former hero. Now a criminal. He had tangled himself with the wrong people. He had been betrayed by them. He then closed himself off from any personal connections. He screamed more from the initial shock, but as it went on, he grew used to the pain.

 

The world was upside down to the woman as she slowly and rhythmically swung. Most of her prison uniform had been ripped up to create a swing where she hung upside down, so she was left in short shorts, a tattered shirt, and a bra. Her unwashed, unkempt long, thick dark blue hair touched the ground of her cage. Her large, dark wings were clamped down so she couldn't use them. Her eyes were closed, but they had long eyelashes. She had full lips, thin eyebrows, and a strong jaw. Her skin was as white as snow, but she was no Snow White.

Guards shouted orders at each other as the gates were opened and a few strode towards the cage of Harleia Tormentor, a tiefling warlock. She had many crimes, including theft, manipulation, kidnapping, treason, arson, impersonation, murder, among other things. She was crazy from incarceration. 

“If she moves, fire,” the guard ordered his wizards as he glanced up at Harleia. “You gonna come down from there, or what?”

The tiefling giggled as she opened her heavily lidded eyes, revealing her two toned eyes, one a deep, sapphire blue, and the other silver, pale and cold like the moon. They were both mysterious and beautiful. Someone could get lost in them, staring in those deep orbs for hours, the perfect distraction.

She swung down from her swing and walked up to the bars to meet the guard, a smirk dancing at her luscious lips as she gripped the bars, which she knew she wasn't allowed to touch. Her hair fell over her shoulders, reaching her waist, revealing her horns.

The guard laughed, “Heh, look at you. You know the rules, hotness. Keep off these bars.”

“What? These bars?” Harleia asked. She licked one of them, clearly not caring about the consequences.

“Oh my gods. You are a really bad chick,” the guard chirped, amused.

Harleia tilted her head, “Can you come in here and tell me that? Or are you scared?” her smirk melted into a pout. “Come on, I'm bored. Play with me!”

“Lady, you put six of my guards in the infirmary. No one's gonna play with you.”

Harleia licked her lips and her smirk returned.

“Hit her,” the guard ordered.

The bars where Harleia was gripping shocked her. Harleia yelped and fell backwards.

Harleia snarled and got back up. She screamed and ran forward and plowed straight into the bars. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

One of the wizards whistled, the pitch getting lower every second.

“That is just a whole lot of pretty and a whole lot of crazy,” the guard declared.

 

Acheron snuck behind Dworgyn. The halfling didn't even suspect, or maybe he was pretending not to notice. 

Dworgyn led him behind the buildings to the large building where the teachers usually met. He closed the door behind him, but Acheron murmured a few words before placing his hand against the door. Now he could hear what they were saying.

“…Told them that the spell was holding up. They'll never know that the Gates of Helheim are pushing open,” Dworgyn was saying.

Acheron’s eyes widened.

Someone shushed him. “Keep your voice down, Dworgyn.” It was Shenzi Sharptooth, the toxic magic teacher.

“We must figure out a way to renew the spells without causing a mass panic,” said Evenyl Nathtalond, the chief evocation wizard declared. Since she had the least amount of teaching responsibilities, she helped her master, Alassra Silverhand, run the Camp of Magic.

_ How has it  _ not _ caused mass panic yet? _ Acheron thought frantically. According to Dworgyn, if the gates were to open even a little bit, the dead would be able to come back into the Material Plane.

“Perhaps we should consult the Oracle,” said Cassandra Truth, the divination teacher. She had the gift of prophecy but people tended to doubt her. They usually regretted it, but the campers didn't doubt her. She predicted the takeover of seaweed crackers.

_ NOW THERE’S AN ORACLE???? _ Acheron’s brain was about to explode.

“I suppose it's worth a shot,” Evenyl said. “You go check in a bit, Cassie. After the students’ lunch break.”

There was a silence, as if the others were nodding.

“I'll consult with Alassra,” Evenyl said. “But in the meantime, I want you all to be vigilant, and not a word to the campers.”

The meeting was adjourned and Acheron dashed away before he could get caught. 

He found his group at the edge of the field, away from the others as usual. He squinted and saw two extra figures, and he groaned aloud.

One figure had a lithe and muscular build with black leather armor and a sharp sword at his waist. His dark hair was close cropped and he had cold black eyes. His name was Bellum Swordweaver, a conjuration wizard who specialized in weapon summoning and bullying.

His skinny sidekick, illusionist Evann Mirage, stood to his side. He had thin blonde hair and gold eyes and a cheap leather robe hung on his skinny frame. He was laughing as he clutched Ea’s lunchbag.

“Leave us alone, dummies!” Ea snarled, trying to snatch her lunch bag back from Evann. Evann moved it out of her reach and tripped her, and the girl went sprawling on the ground. 

“Hey!” Ea complained. She sat up, wincing slightly.

Bellum laughed. “Aw, look, the poor baby’s gonna cry for her mother. Cry for your mommy, freak!”

He had pushed it over the line. Acheron, as well as the rest of their group, knew that Ea’s mother was Zariel, the archdevil of Avernus. She wasn't one to comfort her daughters after bullying. In fact, according to Ea, Zariel killed Ea’s father. Ea didn't share the details, but they guessed it was traumatizing.

Because Ea immediately launched herself at Bellum and tackled him. She bit Bellum’s forearm, causing the brute to scream.

Acheron began to smile but Miri cried out, “Ea!”

She and Nexa separated Ea and Bellum, or more removed Ea from Bellum. Ea kicked, “Let me go!”

Evann and the rest of their group ran over to Bellum.

“Does it hurt?” simpered one of the girls.

“Of course it does! That  _ savage _ bit me!” Bellum whined.

“Ah, shut your big mouth, you're fine!” a gruff voice snapped. It was Dworgyn, followed by a woman wearing a long dress that transitioned from red at the top to yellow at the very tips of the dress. Her orange hair that was bright red at the roots and yellow at the tips was swept up in a way that made it resemble a flame. Her eyes were bright red, like warm little flames.

“Ms. Falmea!” Acheron exclaimed. Dahlia Falmea was a fire genasi, a half human half efreet, or fire genie. She was the teacher of fire magic.

Ea wiggled out of Miri and Nexa’s grasp and Dahlia helped the girl up. She led her away, but Acheron wasn't worried. He knew Dahlia knew about Ea, and why Bellum’s comment had riled her up so much.

“Is everything okay? Did anybody die?” Dworgyn rumbled.

“No, sir,” Barrey answered.

“Alright then. Now behave yourselves,” Dworgyn ordered before walking off.

Bellum stood up, but Miri shot an icy glare at him before he could even speak. She snapped, “Listen to teacher, little boy. Now scram before I decide not to listen to teacher.” a tiny holographic snowflake formed at the tip of her finger and she poked Bellum’s chest. Had a chest poke ever been threatening? Frost spread from Miri’s fingertip across a bit of Bellum’s chest. He let out a choked cry before Miri pulled away and turned around. Her braid smacked him in the face.

A few people started laughing and Bellum fled away in shame. Evann and the rest of the group followed him.

A few people started clapping as Miri sat down and muttered some unfriendly words under her breath.

“Well that was… interesting,” Acheron said.

“Interesting is not a word I'd use to describe that,” Barrey said.

“It happens nearly every week,” Aroconus said. “For no real reason, actually.”

“Speak for yourself,” Acheron and Miri muttered at the same time. They both looked at each other, momentarily stunned. Then Miri scowled and turned away. Acheron did the same thing.

Barrey shook his head. Acheron got ready to chew out Barrey for trying to subtly offer advice, then he noticed that Barrey was trying to suppress laughter.

Acheron glared at him, “What's so funny, Starsplitter?”

Barrey snorted. “Nothing.”

Acheron rolled his eyes, breaking his gaze away from the abjurer.

 

The two women walked towards the mysterious cave, ignoring the ethereal mist. They entered the large cave that was at the bottom of a small cliff. Instead of rock, the walls were made of light blue, pink, and purple crystals. A few feet inside, there were four couches pushed together in a square shape. A chandelier of glowing crystals reached down to the middle of the square from the ceiling. A corner was roped off with a thick curtain obscuring the space for privacy.

On one of the couches sat a girl, probably sixteen or seventeen years old, with long, curly red hair, dressed in a plain emerald green robe. She looked harmless at first glance, but what was truly horrifying about her was her face. Where her eyes should have been, there was a long scar that had to be stitched together. 

Claire Voyanté was an experiment that a few evil wizards conducted. She was a demigod daughter of Savras, the god of divination. The wizards thought that they could unlock her gift of prophecy by tearing her eyes out of her face and replacing them on her hands. It was about as gruesome as it sounded.

Savras felt a little bad about it and decided to give Claire an actual gift of prophecy. As if that could make up for the complete loss of her eyes. Still, there had been rumors of an artifact that could restore her eyes. Some of the teachers were still looking for it, even after all the years.

“Welcome Cassandra Truth, Alassra Silverhand. Apologies for being so bland.” Claire said. Her voice was hollow with little emotion. The palms of her hands faced them. A green eye was in the middle of each of her palms.

“Good to see you Claire,” Cassandra said as she sat down on one of the sofas. She had short auburn hair trimmed at her earlobes, with bangs almost reaching her eyebrows, and she wore a dark blue robe. She regarded the Oracle with her pale bluish grey eyes.

Alassra sat next to her. She had long wavy silver hair and deep purple eyes. She was wearing a long black dress and a diamond amulet.

“Something's troubling you, I can see. Will you trust that knowledge with me?” Claire tilted her head.

“Dworgyn has just informed us that the magic keeping the Gates of Helheim closed is weakening,” Alassra answered.

“I am well aware of this situation, and I would like to prevent our eternal damnation,” Claire said. “I will console with my Inner Eye and hope nothing too ominous is nigh.” She began slowing waving her hands. Her eyes moved, looking in all direction, but they seemed unfocused, as if they were searching for knowledge on other planes of existence.

Slowly, the eyelids slipped closed. For a few seconds all was quiet and still. Then a sudden wave of magic swept through the room and Claire’s eyes snapped open. She began speaking in a dazed and distracted voice. “The magic of the gates will break… the dead will flood out in its wake… child of sun kings, beware the dead… travel through the Tree, trust who you must… or your world will crumble into dust…”

Claire slumped sideways and slipped out of consciousness.

Cassandra slipped a nearby blanket over the girl before looking at Alassra. “It's true then. The Gates of Helheim are opening.”

“Yes, just as I feared. Alas, Savras never has good news,” Alassra said. 

“But who is the child of sun kings?” Cassandra wondered. “Who are the sun kings?”

“The elf kings of Sunwood,” Alassra answered. “It’s the only logical explanation.”

Cassandra made a disgusted sound between a laugh and a snort. “Who? The current king has no heir or other family. And that king is not going to do any heroics anytime soon.”  _ Complete understatement. _ She thought.

“I know exactly who it is,” Alassra declared.

Cassandra tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. “Who?”

* * *

**Well, that's it for chapter 1! Wow, I am so sorry about Claire's cringy rhymes. Well, until next time!**

 


	2. The Heist

**This is chapter 2 of this DnD craziness.**

**Dusk and Jackolopieous are original characters. Dusk was named after a character in a friend's WIP, and Jack is Jelly Assassin's character.**

**His full name is pronounced Jack-uh-low-pea-uss.**

* * *

 

Chapter 2: The Heist

Acheron woke up with a start in a cold sweat. He glanced outside, and was met with the sight of a cobalt sky sprinkled with silver stars. It was probably the middle of the night. The room was dark. Aroconus and Barrey were asleep, snoring softly.

Acheron stared at the translucent wall. It separated their sleeping area from the main room in the middle of the cabin, and on the other side of the cabin, he knew another translucent wall closed off the girls’ sleeping section.

_ What a nightmare _ , Acheron gripped his head. He remembered seeing corpse-like creatures swarming the Camp of Magic. Whenever they touched something or, even more horrifyingly, some _ one _ , that unfortunate victim turned to dust.

Acheron had heard a familiar scream as one of the corpses stood in front of Miri. It's pale hand reached out and touched her shoulder, and she crumbled. She crumbled to dust.

_ Perfect, now I'm dreaming about her _ , Acheron grumbled. He laid back down on his bed. He finally fell asleep hours later, and two hours later he was shaken awake.

“Wake up,” someone hissed.

Acheron opened one eye and he saw two eyes watching him. One was bigger than the other and almost made him look like a deformed bug.

Acheron let out a soft yelp as he shot up. He then saw that it was Dworgyn.

Dworgyn put a finger to his lips. “Get dressed.” He whispered. “Then come with me.” 

“Why?” Acheron questioned.

“We can't talk here,” Dworgyn said. “Just do as I say.”

Acheron sighed and grabbed his robe. He changed into in the bathroom before going to the main room.

He saw Dworgyn, along with Aroconus and  _ Miri.  _

Aroconus looked rather sleepy and his light brown locks were uncombed, making him look more like Acheron. Miri looked wide awake, her arms were crossed and she was scowling. Her long black hair was unbraided, cascading down her back in a waterfall of thick waves.

She had potential to be beautiful, Acheron thought. If she ever thought about wiping that awful scowl that distorted her facial features off her face. In fact, Acheron didn't even know how she looked like without a scowl or annoyed expression. Wow, that was pathetic. 

Aroconus walked over and poked his brother’s shoulder. “You're staring.” He whispered.

“What?” Acheron whispered back. “Miri’s pretty. She just doesn't know that other facial expressions exist besides anger and disgust.”

Aroconus blinked. “Did you just call her pretty?”

“As far as I know, it isn't an insult,” Acheron shot back.

“I know. That's why I'm surprised,” Aroconus said.

Acheron snorted. “Don't expect anything though. She clearly hates me,” he said. 

Aroconus opened his mouth, as if to say something, but Acheron smiled coyly. “Besides, cows haven't flown yet.” He said dryly.

Aroconus lightly slapped him on the shoulder. “Haha, very funny Acheron.”

Aroconus opened his mouth again but this time Dworgyn spoke up, “Alright folks, let's go.”

They followed him out. Miri spoke, “Wait, what about Barrey, Nexa, and Ea?”

“They'll stay there. It's a rule of three, not a rule of six,” Dworgyn replied.

“What the heck does that mean?” Acheron demanded.

“Shhh,” Aroconus shushed.

Acheron looked around and he noticed the sky was still a dark blue. The sun was just peaking out from the horizon. 

“Why were we waken up so early?” Miri asked.

“I'll explain when we get there,” Dworgyn replied.

“When do we get there?” Acheron asked.

“We get there when we get there,” Dworgyn growled. Surprisingly, no one asked any more questions. 

Dworgyn led them across Camp, past the Forest of Monsters, which was where monsters were kept under strict wards for practice battles, all the way towards the Mage City. 

“Mage City,” murmured Miri.

Dworgyn kept walking, and they kept following him until they came to a magnificent building. Acheron had only seen it from a distance before.

“The Temple of Mystra!” Aroconus exclaimed.

The large temple was silver, with a long staircase leading up to the main entrance, which was halfway up the front of the building. On either side of the stairs, two large torches burned with faerie fire. At the bottom, red and purple roses grew on either side of the stairs. At the top of the stairs, in front of the doors was a fifty foot statue of Mystra, the goddess of magic.

“You can admire it later. Right now we have urgent business,” Dworgyn said as he began climbing the stairs.

_ Could it be about the Gates of Helheim? _ Acheron wondered, his mind drifting back to the conversation he had overheard.

A few minutes later, they finally entered the temple. The walls were silver, purple, and red. The ceiling was painted with elaborate images of the gods. In the middle of the room stood a large altar smoking with purple fire.

Dworgyn walked straight through all of this, but Acheron, Aroconus, and Miri looked around, walking slowly.

Dworgyn turned around, looking exasperated, but then his expression softened. “I keep forgetting that you three have never been here.”

“Why are we here though?” Acheron asked.

“We'll explain everything once we pass through…” Dworgyn looked as if he were about to do something very difficult. “The Hall of Ages. Come along. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll pass through it.”

Dworgyn led them to a narrow hallway. At first the walls were black, until fire and frost started forming. The images were moving slightly.

The next picture caught him off guard. It wasn't the giant, but it was the enormous cow licking an enormous grain of salt until it eventually uncovered a humanoid.

Acheron choked back his laughter. “What's that supposed to be?” 

“It’s the birth of Odin’s grandfather,” Aroconus explained.

“He was born from a cow licking salt?” Acheron snorted.

“If that's what you find funny, wait till the Age of the Gods,” Dworgyn’s eyes glitter with amusement.

They passes an image of the same giant, but he was getting killed by three gods.

“Odin and his brother killing Ymir,” Aroconus had taken the role of unofficial tour guide. “Ymir’s blood became humans, his skull became the sky, and his body became the earth. Maggots that burrowed in his flesh eventually became dwarves.”

Acheron choked back laughter again. “They come from  _ maggots _ ?”

Miri glared at him, “If you ever meet a dwarf and you bring that up, don't be surprised when they decapitate you.” 

Acheron glared back at her. “I’m not stupid. I’m just surprised.”

“Well you'd know this stuff if you paid more attention,” Aroconus pointed out.

Aroconus narrated various images, such as the Aesir-Vanir war, Mimir’s decapitation, Loki’s affair with the giantess Angrboda that gave birth to Jormungand, Hel, Fenrir Wolf, Loviatar, and Talona, how Frey gave up Sumarbrander, the dwarf Eitri crafting Odin’s ring, Frey’s boar, and Thor’s hammer, and various other godly adventures and misadventures.

The last story of the Age of the Gods was Loki’s murder of Balder and the punishment for it, then the Age of Mortals began.

Gods still did their shenanigans, but now more mortals were involved.

With the exile of the drow and the duergar came the conflict between Corellon Larethian and Araushnee the Weaver, now known as Lolth. Younger deities were conceived during this age.

Then the most recent events were shown, which happened thirty or so years ago. Dragons and mortals swarmed a single demon to seal her in the Nine Hells. The same dragons and mortals swarmed a mountain, where they blew up armies and catapults. Concurrently, the life of the famous Drizzt Do’Urden was displayed on the opposite wall.

Then the Hall of Ages cut to black, but ethereal mist was swirling slowly, as if waiting to extend the Hall of Ages.

Then they emerged into a large office. It was painted silver with splashes of red and purple. The desk was neatly organized and books were organized professionally on the bookshelf. 

Behind the desk stood Alassra Silverhand herself, daughter of Mystra, Chosen of Mystra, founder and director of the Camp of Magic. Her long silver hair fell in waves down her back, reaching her waist, and she wore a long, sleeveless black dress with silver trim.

“Now we're here,” Dworgyn said.

“Alassra… Silverhand…” Aroconus breathed.

“Have a seat,” Alassra waved her hand and four seats appeared. Dworgyn immediately sat down, and so did Acheron. All that walking had made him really tired.

Miri and Aroconus sat down more slowly.

“So can someone finally tell us what's going on?” Acheron demanded.

“Yes,” Alassra said. She put her hand to her temple and spoke, “Claire, could you come in here, please?” 

A figure suddenly appeared the the room. It was a young woman, in a dark green robe, with curly red hair, and… 

Miri gasped.

Aroconus screamed.

“Whoooooaa…” Acheron murmured.

Instead of eyes, the girl had a long, wide scar that had to be stitched together. Her emerald eyes were on her hands, one in the center of each palm.

“This is Claire Voyanté, the Oracle of Savras,” said Alassra. “Yesterday, she issued a prophecy.”

“The magic of the gates will break. The dead will flood out in its wake. Child of sun kings, beware the dead. Travel through the Tree, trust who you must. Or your world will crumble into dust.” said Claire.

“What.” Acheron said.

“I've gotten that reaction  a lot, my prophecies often make minds rot,” Claire declared.

“Do you have rhyme everything you say?” Miri asked, though for once she wasn't annoyed. 

“Yes I do, though I've learned not to rue.” Claire said.

“It’s part of the ‘gift’,” Alassra said. She looked at Claire. “Do your thing.”

Claire outstretched her right hand towards Miri, allowing the eye to examine her. She did the same to Aroconus, then Acheron.

When the eye looked at Acheron, it widened. Claire pointed at him. “He is the one.”

“Stop her!”

“She's getting away!”

“Stop that thief!”

Dusk Jillian Luzon giggled as she flipped from one roof to the other, clutching the crystal orb that she had just stolen.

“They're never going to catch me,” Dusk smiled to herself as she brushed some of her wavy chestnut hair out of her face as she flew through the air and landed in a crouched position. Her face was hidden by a black mask, so only her sapphire blue eyes were visible. They held a spark of playfulness and cruel amusement. She was dressed in a black leather halter top, black leather pants, black arm warmers, and a black corset. 

A few guards surrounded her, each wielding heavy weapons. They also carried heavy chains.

“We've got her surrounded!” one exclaimed. 

“No you haven't,” Dusk grinned. “You’ve just placed me in a target rich environment.”

She jumped into action, kicking, tripping, and stabbing with her daggers. Her twin daggers were thin, curved blades with ornate handles. With a flip of a switch, Dusk could coat the blades with poison.

Soon, she had overturned all of her targets, and she was free. She chuckled, “Child’s play.” before running to the edge of that roof and jumping. She landed on the ground like a cat.

A few working men were standing there. They smirked at Dusk. Dusk inwardly frowned. She  _ hated _ it when guys looked at her like that, but getting angry about it wasn't going to help her plan.

“Getting into trouble a little early there, aren't you, Hotness?” One licked his lips.

“Trouble?” snorted Dusk. “I'm only in trouble if I get caught.”

Suddenly, a real brute of a guard appeared in front of Dusk. He was much too large and sturdy for her usual tripping tactics. Fortunately for her, he wasn't very smart either.

“GIMME THE ORB!” he roared.

Dusk had to refrain from smirking, “Sure thing.” She glanced over the guard's shoulder, “Heads up!”

She threw the orb. It sailed into the gloved hand of her partner, Jackolopieous Entreri.

Jackolopieous was wearing black leather armor with a black scarf and black overcoat over it. He was currently using the scarf as a face mask so only his icy blue eyes were visible. His hood was pushed over his wavy, shoulder length raven hair. 

“You lying bitch!” the guard snarled.

Dusk smirked. “Yup, that's what I am.”

Jackolopieous rushed forward and plunged his sword into the back of the guard. The guard fell, not even knowing what killed him.

“We got the orb, let's go,” he spoke casually for someone who had just murdered someone. Such was the way of the life of the Enchantress and the Assassin.

Dusk nodded and they broke off into a run. They leaped, higher than most mortals were able, and landed on the rooftops. They ran along the rooftops until they ran out of rooftops.

They leaped off the highest point of the last roof. Dusk shouted the incantation for a spell. A sapphire blue portal erupted into existence beneath them and they fell in.

Both were used to the chaotic maelstrom that was the portal, so when the portal spit them out, they knew to just run in place to ensure a soft landing. They did so, descending down slowly until their combat boots hit the ground.

Dusk and Jackolopieous lived in a hidden mansion. It was guarded by magical weaponry that could function without people, and it was as lavish, if not more lavish, than the palaces of kings.

The walls, ceilings, and floors were made of obsidian, reinforced with steel. Gems and chips of gold dotted the walls in elaborate patterns. Two of the largest rooms served as Dusk and Jackolopieous’s rooms. Most of the remaining rooms were filled with stolen treasure. Others were guest rooms when other members of the Zhentarim came to visit.

Dusk and Jackolopieous were members of the Zhentarim, the Black Network. They were of the highest ranks, the Dread Lord and Dread Lady. They were some of the highest on the pay scale and they were very successful thieves and plunderers.

Jackolopieous reached into his pocket and pulled out the orb. He shook it slightly, “What is this supposed to do?”

“I dunno. Maybe I'll examine it,” Dusk said as she walked over to an obsidian throne, inlaid with sapphires and diamonds. She sat down sideways in it, her legs dangling off one side and she leaned against the wall.

They were the King and Queen of Crime. Why shouldn't they have thrones?

Jackolopieous walked over to his throne. His was also obsidian, studded with diamonds and rubies. He sat down the right way and threw the orb to Dusk. Dusk plucked it out of the air and sighed. She had a lot of analyzing to do.

 


	3. Criminals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer
> 
> Romero Falone, Torque Feng, Ara Naïlo, and Astryd Warpiker are originals.
> 
> Kao Lian is NOT based off Drizzt Do'Urden. I know it might seem like it because Lian is a surface drow with light purple eyes. Truth is, I read in the DnD Players Guide that some drow have purple eyes (among other colors) and I chose it at random. And the important thing is that Lian is not a do-gooder at first. It'll take some character development for him to become good. It's just important for you to know that Kao Lian is not intended to be a badly masked version of Drizzt Do'Urden
> 
> Also I am majorly sorry about the buttload of characters this story and all the following stories will have and deeply apologize if it makes you confused.

**Chapter 3: Criminals**

“Uhhh…” Acheron spoke, really confused. Miri groaned. Of course the guy didn't know what to say when he was chosen as the subject of a prophecy. Then again, maybe she should cut him some slack. That doesn't happen to just anyone.

“Correct me if I'm wrong,” she finally spoke up. “But the Oracle just pointed at Acheron.”

“Jealous?” Acheron tilted his head, now suddenly smug.

Miri glared at him. “No. And correct me if I'm wrong, but five seconds ago you were really confused.”

“Would you just shut up for once in your life?” Acheron snapped. “I've never been the subject of a prophecy before, but neither have you.”

“Stop it! Stop fighting!” Aroconus snapped. He took a deep breath. “Acheron is clearly going on a quest here. We will wish him luck, not hope he dies, and if he does die, we will not be ecstatic.”

The Oracle had been silent up until now, but now she smiled gently. “Oh no, you two are crucial too. You'd best go pack up too.”

“And you're not going to die,” Alassra said. “The prophecy said trust who you must. So you can trust anyone who can help you on this quest.”

“I have no idea what you just said,” Acheron said.

“Well I'd best be getting back to my cave. I wish you best of luck, and be brave,” Claire said.

“Wait,” Acheron said. “Where is your cave?”

“The misty cave at the foot of the hill. Many have watched it with a chill.” Claire answered.

“No way! I always wanted to know what was in the cave,” Acheron said.

Miri snorted. “Now your life is complete.”

“Why do you have to be so condescending?” Acheron growled. “I can't believe I have to do a quest with you.” He muttered.

“I'm not so keen on working with you either,” Miri shot back.

“Guys! We're going to go on a very important quest, and we haven't even left Alassra’s office. So can we please not kill each other?” Aroconus snapped. 

Miri sighed. Aroconus was right. The fate of the worlds rested on their shoulders and choices.

“Great,” Dworgyn said. “You guys go pack up quickly and then you can leave.” He led them back out the Hall of Ages.

“Where do we even start?” Miri wondered as the four walked back into the central room. A few clerics were now walking about, doing clerical things.

“How would we even find the Gates?” Acheron asked.

“I’ve got an idea,” Aroconus said. “I read about this magical item. It's called the Orb of Savras. The books say that it's an all knowing orb. If you ask it a question, it will answer.”

“Perfect, we can use it to find the Gates,” Miri said. “Where is it?”

“Um… I don't know,” Aroconus said.

Miri groaned.

“I know where it is,” Dworgyn said. “It's been thrown all about the Nine Worlds, but just yesterday it was stolen by Dusk Jillian Luzon and Jackolopieous Entreri.”

Aroconus paled, “The King and Queen of Crime.” 

“Pffft, how dangerous could they be?” Acheron shrugged.

Miri rolled her eyes. She hadn't heard much about Dusk and Jackolopieous, but she knew that they were very dangerous and elusive criminals. Certainly not people they should trust.

“Oh, I've met them once,” Dworgyn said with a crooked grin.

“Really? When?” Acheron asked, copper eyes sparkling with interest and curiosity.

“Me and the Masked One were a part of a group trying to catch them,” Dworgyn said. He also named the Masked One, the mysterious teacher of illusion magic. “Not to brag, but we were one of two successful groups. That was a year ago. During that time, I’d snagged something of Dusk’s.” He took a leather pouch out of his jacket. He tossed it to Acheron.

Acheron looked inside it. He tilted his head, “It's a ring.” 

Miri and Aroconus gathered beside Acheron to see the ring. It was made of silver, with a thin band and a large face. On the face was the image of a living tree.

“A treant,” Aroconus said. “But this is a ring of House Aldertree. What does she have to do with it?”

“I don't know, but she put up one hell of a fight to try to get it back,” Dworgyn said. “Maybe you can use to your advantage.”

Acheron nodded. “Alright. Thanks Dworgyn.”

They had reached their cabin. Acheron and Aroconus went to pack up their stuff on their side of the cabin while Miri went to her side.

Nexa and Ea were still asleep. Nexa slept like a dead person and Ea was murmuring softly in her her sleep.

Miri quietly grabbed her pack and filled it with some necessities: a change of clothes, some rations, and a few other useful things. She then went back to the main room. Aroconus was just emerging from the boy’s side.

“Where's Acheron?” Miri whispered, careful not to wake up any of the others.

“He said he has a few more things to pack,” Aroconus said.

They waited for another minute and Acheron came out of boy's side. 

“Come on, it's time to go,” he said.

By time they got outside Dworgyn was gone, so the three walked to the exit alone.

“I found where Dusk and Jackolopieous are,” Aroconus said. “They're in a tavern not far from here. We can use Yggdrasil Jr. to get there.”

They nodded. Yggdrasil Jr. was a small version of the real Yggdrasil, the World Tree, which meant it was a fifty foot pine tree at the entrance of the camp.

They stood in front of the trunk. Aroconus clapped his hands and ordered, “Daggerford!”

The trunk split open. The inside was glowing dark gray. 

“Well, let's go!” Acheron said as he stepped inside without a second thought.

Miri rolled her eyes before looking over at Aroconus. She met his sky blue eyes, and the wizard shrugged. Then they followed Acheron through the portal.

They ended up at a small village. It wasn't really poverty stricken, but it was a lot less nicer than the Camp of Magic. The buildings, while still supported, were ratty and old looking. People in long cloaks with the hoods pulled low over their faces hung out in the streets.

Miri, Acheron, and Aroconus pulled their own hoods over their faces, just to try to blend in. Acheron’s white and gold hood stood out a bit, but a few others had colorful, decorative cloaks so it wasn't that obvious.

“So where are Dusk and Jackolopieous?” Miri whispered.

“They're in a tavern called Hydra Head,” Aroconus replied in a whisper. “Why are we whispering?”

“I don't know. It just feels right,” Miri said. “So where is Hydra Head?”

“Over there,” Acheron pointed down the street to a large wooden building where lots of chatter and crashes were coming from. Above the door were a few hydra heads and a sign that read:

Hydra Head

“This is it,” Aroconus said. “Dusk and Jackolopieous should be inside.”

They entered the tavern, which was surprisingly easy. Apparently it wasn't well guarded.

Miri gulped as she looked around. The tavern was filled with large, bulky men, and others of all genders dressed in black.  _ Rogues _ , she thought.

“Over there,” Aroconus pointed towards the back of the tavern. There was a table and two people sat there.

One was a beautiful young woman. She had medium length chestnut hair that was curled at the tips and sapphire blue eyes that held a spark of mischief and cruel amusement. She was wearing a black halter top, a black corset, a silky black scarf, black leather pants, and black combat boots.

Across from her was a handsome young man. He was extremely pale, with angular features, thick, wavy black hair that stopped at his shoulders, and icy blue eyes. He was wearing a black shirt, black leather pants, a black leather jerkin with silver buttons, a black scarf, and a long black trench coat with a hood. He looked more bored and annoyed.

“Let's go,” Acheron said and they walked up to them.

The woman, Dusk, saw them approaching. She tilted her head and regarded them with her sapphire eyes. Her gaze was cold and piercing. “Well, well, well, what have we here? Three wizards? No, one of you is a sorcerer.” Her voice was rich and melodic.

Miri narrowed her eyes, “How did you-”

“I have rules you know. If you want to hire us, you better be prepared to pay,” Dusk said, then she regarded Acheron and Aroconus, “You two seem a little young to be searching for  _ that _ kind of fun~”

The man, Jackolopieous, sighed, “Dusk. Seriously.”

“But then again you're half elves, so I could never tell,” Dusk said with a cruel laugh.

“Excuse me, who do you think you are?” Miri asked, arching an eyebrow.

“The name's Dusk Jillian Luzon. Daughter of Loki, arcane trickster, Queen of Crime!” Dusk said grandly. “So just bow down to me.”

Miri scowled.

“Oh! And this is Jackolopieous Entreri,” Dusk said, motioning to her partner. “He's the Assassin and the King of Crime.”

“So what do you need?” Jackolopieous asked. 

“We need to borrow your services for… actually I don't know. However long we need them,” Acheron said.

“I hope you have lots of valuables you can get rid of,” Dusk said, holding out her open palm.

_ Time to use the ring _ , Miri thought. She looked over at Acheron and hoped that he either came to the same conclusion or got the hint. Thankfully, that had happened, as he took out the pouch and grabbed the ring. He tossed it into Dusk’s open palm. “That enough payment for you?”

Dusk looked at the ring and her eyes widened. “H-How did you get this?” she demanded.

“We got it from a man called Dworgyn,” Aroconus said.

“Dworgyn,” Dusk growled. “I hated him.” 

“We gave you your ring. Now you help us,” Miri said.

Dusk rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. Jackolopieous and I will help you.”

Jackolopieous nodded. Miri looked over at him. She could tell he wasn't submissive, he just preferred to keep to himself.

Suddenly, doors of Hydra Head flew open and two dark shapes came in. One was a suit of black armor, but red smoke replaced the body that should have been under it. The other was a helhound, a dog of Helheim. It had shaggy black fur, glowing red eyes, and sharp, gleaming fangs.

“A helmed horror,” Aroconus said. “And a helhound.”

Dusk stood up and smirked. “Explain your little quest after this fight.” she flicked her wrists and two daggers with curved blades appeared in her hands. She flipped switches on the ornate handles, and a green poison coated the blades. She tilted her head, “Time to play.”

 

People would have been freaked out to see a drow, a human, and a half orc walking down the street together. They would also freak out if they saw a drow, a human, and a half orc together in a prison cell.

Such was the case of Kao Lian. The drow was dressed in a black prison suit, which helped him blend into the darkness, since it almost matched his ebony skin. However, his stark white hair and pale purple eyes made it difficult to blend in without a hood.

He had been in that cell for six months, and he had two and a half years left. He had been a monk of Odin, but when that wretched tiefling named Harleia Tormentor crashed into his life, everything went wrong. She had bound herself to him and tricked him into summoning the demon Asmodeus. Charged with using dark magic at a holy place, he had been thrown into Scarlet Prison. Well jokes on Harleia. Lian had used this new bond with her to help the guards catch her. Now instead of ten years, he had three years in prison, but that didn't make it easier to deal with.

His cellmates were a human and a half orc.

Romero Falone was a son of Loki, the god of trickery. He was a shapeshifter and a bandit. He was one of the most dangerous bandits in Blood Crystal Mountains… or he had been until he was caught by the ranger Rowan Evanwood.

Currently, Romero was laying on his cot, his hands folded behind his head. His eyelids were closed over his sky blue eyes. His long, untamed black hair was spread out on the pillow and the floor.

Torque Feng was the son of Yevelda Feng, an orc chieftess, and a human. He was shunned by his mother for his human blood, even though as a half orc, Torque would always be more skilled than she ever would be. He was a smuggler and was caught during a mass tavern raid.

Lian, Romero, and Torque had bonded over how cruel their mothers were, and how much their lives sucked.

“Let go! Let go, or I'll make you regret it!” a female voice growled as three figures came down the hallway. Two of them were guards. The one in the middle that was being manhandled was a moon elf.

She was rather pretty. She had alabaster skin that was tinged blue, long, thick black hair, and dark blue eyes that were flecked with gold. She looked winded from struggling and she was dressed in a prison uniform.

“We finally got her. Ara Naïlo, the leader of the Oathbreakers,” said one of them. “Those Harpists are really something.”

At the mentions of the Harpists, Ara growled. Lian hadn’t been in the upper world for long, but he had learned from Romero that the Harpers were a guild that dedicated themselves to good.

The cell door across from theirs was opened and Ara was shoved inside. It was then slammed shut and locked and the guards strode down the hallway.

Ara growled and kicked the bars.

“Welcome to Suckersville, honey,” said another female voice from the cell across from them.

It was Astryd Warpiker. She was a small and slim hill dwarf that had consorted with duergar, the gray dwarves of the Underdark. Astryd was pale, with forest green eyes and long dark red hair that was tied back in a braid. Unlike most dwarves, she wasn't strong or hardy. She had the same breadth as a human and a small height for a dwarf.

Ara growled. “I didn't come here to make friends.”

“You're here because you have to pay off your crimes,” Romero said as he sat up. “So what's your story?”

Ara glared at him. “The name's Ara Naïlo. I was once a White Knight. Then I was the leader of the Oathbreakers. But then the Harpers came and arrested me and half the Oathbreakers. Damn those Harpists!” she spat on the floor.

Astryd scowled. “We have to live here for a long time, so don't make it even more filthy than it already is!” she snapped.

“Who made you boss, Short Stack?” Ara shot back.

“Bah! Never call a dwarf ‘Short Stack!’ We hate it. I'm making the rules because I've been here the longest,” Astryd said.

“I've been here second longest,” Torque rumbled.

“Bah! You could barely speak Common when you first got here. It's a good thing your pal Romero came and taught you Common. If I had to spend another day trying to understand Orc, my head would have exploded,” Astryd grumbled.

“That would have been fun to see,” Romero said, his voice tinged with cruel amusement.

“Can it, son of Loki,” Astryd snapped. She looked over at Ara, “See, Romero is mostly big talk. He's got one of the least interesting stories out of all of us. He was a bandit from the Blood Crystal Mountains and got caught by Rowan Evanwood.”

“Who's she?” Ara asked.

“A blonde bitch with a sword,” Romero answered.

“Uh-huh,” Ara said, already losing interest. “And what about the half orc? What about him?”

“I was a smuggler,” Torque said. “I smuggled rare magical creatures, alchemist’s fire, illegal weaponry, the whole shebang. I got caught during a mass tavern raid.”

“Was it you raiding the tavern or the bounty hunters?” Ara asked.

“Hunters,” Torque said, a bit of an angry growl to his tone.

“And what about you, dark elf?” Ara asked and Lian felt all eyes on him.

“I'm from the Underdark,” Lian said. “I was once a monk of Odin. Until Harleia showed up.” Even saying her name made Lian want to get up and destroy something. He remembered her cold and cruel two toned eyes, her nasty smile, her cold white hands guiding his black ones, her soft, melodic voice whispering ancient spells to summon Asmodeus, the Lord of Nessus.

“She tricked me into summoning her father, Asmodeus. He wreaked havoc for a while and I was turned into Scarlet Prison for treason.”

“And what happened to Harleia?” Ara asked.

“Oh, she's in here,” Astryd said with a smirk. “See, the witch had bound herself to Lian, and he used that bond to help the guards find her.”

“Aww, if you're so sickeningly sweet, why are you still here?” Ara asked, looking at Lian.

Lian was not like the other dark elves, but he was very certain he was not a ray of sunshine. Harleia’s betrayal had turned him cold and evil again. A different kind of evil than his kin.

“I didn't do it out of the kindness of my heart,” Lian said coldly. “I did it because I hated her. See, I'm not evil like my drow kin. I'm my own kind of evil. Now if you don't mind, bother the cellmates, because I am done.”

He laid back and closed his purple eyes.


	4. Adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well my dudes, I'm so sorry about missing last Saturday. I was busy with some things that day.
> 
> Anyway, disclaimers.
> 
> I don't own helmed horrors, but I do own the ironic spelling of hellhound as "helhound," since Hel, the Norse goddess of death, is spelled with only one L.
> 
> Irene and Krista are original characters.

Chapter 4: Adventure

Aroconus didn't like their odds. Helhounds worked for Hel, the ruthless goddess of the dishonorable dead. Helmed horrors had certain immunities, and there was no way to know which spells they were immune to.

“So does anyone want to go first? Or should I take the first shot?” Dusk cracked her knuckles and tilted her head.

Acheron stepped forward and drew his hand back. Some fire formed at his hand and he hurled his hand forward. The fire shot at the helhound, but it just bounced off its coat and started a fire on the floor. The helhound stared at Acheron, something resembling mock in its eyes.

“What? How?” Acheron demanded.

“Helhounds are immune to fire, genius!” Aroconus shouted.

Acheron threw his hands into the air, “Well how was I supposed to know that??”

The helhound growled at them and crouched low, preparing to strike.

“So it's immune to fire,” Miri said. “But is it immune to ice?”

Frost spread from her feet in the floor, freezing over everything it came in contact with. It reached the helhound’s feet and froze its feet to the ground. The helhound whimpered slightly.

“Jackolopieous, you take care of the helmed horror,” Dusk ordered.

Jackolopieous nodded and drew his sword. The sword was a long, thin black blade with a single dark red gem, a garnet, set in its pommel. The name was carved at the bottom of the blade where it met the handle:  Scather . It was a Sword of Answering, one of the only nine in existence.

“Alright big guy,” Jackolopieous said softly. “It’s time for you to die.” He raised his sword and pointed it at the helmed horror. He charged at the monster.

Aroconus turned his attention back to the helhound. It had freed one of its paws from Miri’s ice and was waving it threateningly at them, but with its other three paws still trapped in the ice, it couldn’t go far.

Aroconus raised his beech wand. Blue energy formed at the tip and shot out as three darts made of that magic energy. It pierced the helhound in the side and the beast howled in pain.

Dusk jumped into the air. She jumped high and did a few spins as she flew towards the creature. As she got closer, she readied her poisoned blades. When she was close enough, she stuck once. Twice. Then she had to draw back, but she had cut the helhound. The skin around the wounds was already turning green.

Acheron, while he couldn’t use his fire magic, had grabbed an empty glass bottle. He marched right up to the helhound and smashed the bottle against its head. He yelled, “TAKE THAT, SUCKER!” 

Miri refroze its other paw to the floor. Dusk spoke, “I’m going for the kill!” She jumped again, and this time, she drove her knife into the chest of the helhound. The helhound screeched before it exploded into black dust.

“So,” Acheron said, fanning some black dust away from himself. “How’s Jack doing with the helmed horror?”

There was the clanging of armor pieces as they clashed together and fell to the floor. Jackolopieous sheathed Scather, “That answer your question?” He walked over to them, then added, “Oh, and don’t call me Jack.”

“But it’s so much easier than Jack-a-low-pies,” Acheron said, completely messing up the pronunciation. Aroconus couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or if he genuinely didn’t know how to pronounce the name. Probably both.

“It’s _ Jack-uh-low-pea-uss _ ,” Jackolopieous corrected.

Dusk rolled her eyes, “His parents really hated him.”

Jackolopieous frowned at her, “It means ‘skilled killer’ in the drow language.”

Dusk shrugged. “If you say so.”

They looked around and Aroconus noticed that the entire tavern had cleared out. The bartender appeared to be hiding under the bar. Dusk rolled her eyes again, “What a coward.” she muttered.

“We should go somewhere else to talk about this quest we’ve gotten ourselves into,” Jackolopieous said. “Come on, let’s get out of Daggerford.”

Dusk and Jackolopieous led them out of Daggerford. Aroconus saw that the town was surprisingly small. It took only five minutes to get out of Daggerford.

“So,” Dusk said. “Explain.”

“Well, we’re on a quest to find and close the NIne Gates of Helheim.”

There was a brief moment of silence, then Jackolopieous coughed into his fist. Dusk said, “Well, good luck finding them, closing them, and not dying on the way.” She turned around.

“We understand you have something called the Orb of Savras,” Aroconus said, staring at her back.

Dusk slowly turned back towards him, “The Orb of Savras?” She repeated. “Oh, you mean this little baby?” she pulled a crystal orb out of her pouch.

“Well? Is that it, Aro?” Miri said in a hushed tone.

“Yes,” Aroconus said. When he squinted, he could make out tiny specks of color that resembled eyes. “That’s the orb we’re looking for.”

“What do you want with it?” Jackolopieous asked.

“That’s how we’re going to find the Gates,” Aroconus replied.

Dusk tilted her head, “And what makes you think you know how to work this? I haven’t figured out how to work it yet.”

“I’m pretty sure I can figure it out,” Aroconus said.

Dusk laughed, “If I couldn’t do it, which one of us can? Jackolopieous and I have the most experience here, and I have the most magic experience.”

“That may be true, but you’re not a wizard. You’re just an arcane trickster. You can’t fully understand the secrets of magic,” Aroconus said. “But I am a wizard.”

“The smartest in our class,” Miri added. “So just give him the orb.”

Dusk groaned and rolled her eyes before tossing the Orb of Savras towards Aroconus. Aroconus fumbled with it a bit before gaining a firm grip. He glared at Dusk, “You could have broken it!”

Dusk shrugged. “Well it’s not my fault you’re a bad catch.”

Acheron glared at Dusk, but Dusk ignored him. He muttered, “Why do we even need them anyway?”

“If we hadn’t been there,” Jackolopieous said. “Those monsters would have killed you.”

Aroconus sighed, knowing that the shady assassin was right.  _ Trust who you must _ , the prophecy had said. He began to wonder if it was a good idea to trust Dusk and Jackolopieous. If their survival depended on those two criminals, Aroconus was sure the Norns hated him.

 

They had traveled farther away from Daggerford and set up a small camp near a stream and forest. Aroconus was in his tent, working on the orb. Dusk was also in her tent doing who knew what and Jackolopieous had gone out to find some food. Acheron sat at the campfire, playing with the small flames.

“I bet those two are going to stab us in the back,” Miri spoke behind him. Acheron hadn’t been expecting her; he jumped slightly and accidently set his sleeve on fire.

“Dammit,” Acheron muttered as he smothered the fire.

Miri pressed her hand to her mouth, quivering slightly. At first Acheron thought she was crying, then he realized she was suppressing laughter. He scowled, “I hate to break it to you, but I’m fireproof.”

“Are your clothes fireproof?” Miri quipped, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope. Want me to set those on fire?” Acheron inquired sarcastically.

Miri’s face reddened and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “No, thanks.”

Acheron opened his mouth to try and say something, but a dark shape appeared behind Miri.

“Watch out!” Acheron exclaimed, picking up the fire from the campfire. The light washed over the figure and Acheron saw that it was Jackolopieous. The young fire wizard felt his face heat up with embarrassment.

“It’s just me,” Jackolopieous said. “Would you mind putting the campfire down so I can cook dinner?”

Acheron put the fire back down. He studied Jackolopieous, looking for the food. He noticed another figure behind him, larger, and not really human. In fact, it was a cow.

“Cool, beef,” Acheron said. “I didn't even know you could get those in the woods.”

“You can,” Jackolopieous replied. “But she's not food. This is Smirk. She's my cow.”

Miri snorted. “You have a  _ cow _ ?”

“Yes,” Jackolopieous answered. 

“Named  _ Smirk _ ?” Acheron added.

“Yes,” Jackolopieous said.

“So what did you actually get for dinner?” Acheron asked.

“I caught a deer,” Jackolopieous said. “I also found some non-poisonous berries.”

“Great,” Dusk poked her head out of her tent.

Jackolopieous started working on the deer. Half an hour later they were all roasting deer meat. Aroconus was still in his tent, so Acheron roasted some for him.

“I’m telling you, I’ve almost figured it out!” Aroconus exclaimed as Acheron handed him his plate.

“Just keep working on it,” Acheron said. 

Aroconus nodded and disappeared into his tent.

Dinner was mostly quiet, except for the occasional mooing from Smirk. Then Dusk spoke, “Seriously? You brought the cow?”

“Dusk, I don’t see why you can’t get along with my cow,” Jackolopieous said, crossing his arms.

“Maybe because it’s a cow,” Dusk shot back, narrowing her sapphire eyes. “It has no stealth whatsoever. IT’S FAT.”

Jackolopieous rolled his eyes, “See, Dusk doesn’t appreciate Smirk.”

“Have you SMELLED the cowpies that thing leaves?” Dusk asked.

“I’ve read they smell horrible!” Aroconus called from inside his tent.

“Exactly! I don’t see why we can’t just eat it,” Dusk said.

“I’m still trying to confirm it, but I think Smirk has some magical abilities,” Jackolopieous continued.

“Oh, not this again!” Dusk growled as she covered her ears.

Acheron looked back at Smirk. She was a large black cow with white spots. Currently she was chewing some grass, then she threw her head back and let out a very majestic moo. “You really think  _ that  _ has magic?”

“The weirdest things have magic these days,” Jackolopieous said in all seriousness.

Acheron shrugged, “Fair enough.”

After they finished their dinner, Jackolopieous went to hang out with his cow. Dusk disappeared into her tent. Miri decided to stay outside, and when Acheron asked her if she was going to go to her tent, she replied with a smirk, “Hate to break it to you, but I’m cold proof.”

_ Apparently you’re not emotionally cold proof,  _ Acheron thought scornfully. “Yeah, yeah,” was all he said aloud before he went to his tent.

 

Her axe flew through the air and landed in the giant’s skull with a loud _THWACK!_ It sent a spray of blood through the air, staining the dirt. The giant fell, his head hitting a sharp rock, coaxing even more blood out of his head. The crowd _oohed_ and cringed at the gruesome sight as the dwarf woman walked towards the corpse.

Irene Bellona planted one foot on the giant’s damaged skull and pulled her axe free. The blade was caked with half dried blood. Nevertheless, the dwarf woman smiled broadly as she turned to the crowd, “Another invading giant: dead!” she declared, her voice tinted with a Dwarvish accent: swallowed sounds, hard consonants, rolled R’s.

The crowd cheered as Irene wiped her axe on her bearskin cloak. She was wearing brown leather armor that showed off her arms, ripped with muscles from working in the forges. She ran a hand through her dirty blonde hair, cut short and choppy except for one braided lock that was longer than the rest of her hair.

Irene put her handaxe back at her belt and walked towards her sister, who was deeper in the crowd.

Krista Bellona had the same dark brown eyes and dirty blonde hair as her older sister, but she wore her hair long. She was wearing brass dragon scale mail armor and was wielding a crossbow, which wasn’t her normal weapon. Her jeweler’s glasses had been hurriedly pushed onto the top of her head.

“Good shot, sister,” Irene told her.

“Thanks,” Krista said. “Good thing we defeated him.”

“Bah, he was one major pushover,” Irene complained as the two sisters walked back to their guild hall.

They were a part of Diamond Dragon, the most successful and efficient (and expensive) artisan guild in all the Nine Worlds. They could literally make anything. It took a lot to be a member. Irene and Krista had been members for almost their entire lives, Krista as a jeweler and gemcutter and Irene as a metalsmith.

They had made many creations, but their greatest creation was a magical sword called Dragon Slayer. They had made it for a prince, but they had deemed the selfish and vain prince unworthy of their great creation. So they had kept it.

No one knew how they escaped punishment. Some said they killed the prince and his guards, which was not true, since that prince was still up in his palace, probably moping around. Others said that the prince didn’t put them to death was because they slayed invading giants.

But the real story was kept secret. The real reason was that the goddess Freya had personally told them to keep the sword. She had turned one of the guards who advanced against the dwarf sisters into a cat.

The two walked back to their stations in the guild hall. Krista sat at her desk and pulled her glasses on. She scowled. “Damn giant. His stomps made me crack the gem.”

“Eh, makes his death all the sweeter,” Irene went over to her personal forge and easily picked up her hammer. A few minutes later, she had finished the sword she had been working on.

“Perfect,” she declared as she shoved the blade into her large bucket of water to cool it off.

“That's another weapon finished,” Krista said as she moved a tiny gem into place. “Perfect.” She said as she took off her jeweler’s glasses.

“I think that's all for today,” Irene said.

Krista nodded. “Let's get out of here.”

They put their work away and checked out of the guild before heading down the street towards a large apartment building. They walked in silence into the building and up the stairs to the ninth floor, where their apartment was located.

The room was not a very large one. It had a small kitchen with chairs lining the counter. There was also a living room and a small hallway leading to bedrooms and the bathroom. It was the perfect size for two dwarves to live in.

In the living room was a glass display case that showed off the greatest creation Irene and Krista had ever made: Dragon Slayer. It was a longsword, made of steel and covered with gold from molted gold dragon scales. The handle was set with tiny rubies and garnets that held magic of their own. A dragon head was carved into either side of the hilt, it's mouth open towards the blade.

It was a blade that could kill dragons.

The two sisters had kept it for years. When they first made the sword, Freya had predicted that they would pass the blade onto a half elf who was worthy enough of the sword. Now, thirty years later, they hadn't met a single half elf, let alone a worthy one.

Krista yawned, “I'm going to go to bed early today.”

“You do that,” Irene said. “I'll stay up a bit longer.”

Krista disappeared into her room while Irene sat at the counter. She filled a large mug with mead, her favorite type of alcohol. She would drink any type of mead, but her favorite was pyment, mead with grape juice in it.

She sipped her pyment mead, glancing out the window. Crocus, the big city in which she lived and worked in, was peaceful. Irene loved it, but adventure rarely happened. The giant that had attacked had been young and not much of a challenge, and giants rarely went into the borders of Midgard. She wished something would happen.  _ Anything  _ to get them on an adventure.

With these thoughts, she finished her mead and somehow fell asleep on the couch.


	5. A Half Elf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! I hope you guys had a good year, and that 2019 will be a good one. I'm going to try not to let this story fall into the abyss of my abandoned/unfinished stories.
> 
> Funny story, when I first posted this on Fan Fiction, this chapter went up around New Year last year. Ironic, isn't it?
> 
> Disclaimer
> 
> I don't own Monstrous Nightmares, DreamWorks How To Train Your Dragon does.

Chapter 5: A Half Elf

Rowan Evanwood jumped through the trees, landing on branches, swinging from vines, grabbing berries from high boughs as she went. As she gathered her morning breakfast, she had no idea what she was about to get herself into.

 

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!” Jackolopieous called.

Acheron opened his eyes and immediately, sunlight stung his eyes. He yelped and pressed his hands to his eyes. Once his eyes stopped pulsing, he glared at Jackolopieous. “Never call me that again.”

“You look really peaceful when you sleep,” Jackolopieous said.

“Don't make this weird,” Acheron said. 

“I'm choosing to ignore that,” Jackolopieous said as he moved on.

Acheron yawned, “What are we doing today?”

“Finding the Midgard Gate,” Aroconus said. He looked refreshed and happy. “I got the Orb to work! The Midgard Gate is in the Blood Crystal Mountains.”

“The Blood Crystal Mountains??” Acheron squawked.

“W-Well yes, I’m nervous about going through there too,” Aroconus said, stammering a bit.

“Aroconus, Blood Crystal Mountains are full of bandits and muggers and other people like that,” Acheron said. “It’s one of the most dangerous places in Midgard.”

“I suppose that’s why the Midgard Gate is there,” Aroconus said.

They collapsed their camp and Dusk made it disappear into her pocket dimensions, which she said she could access easily. Acheron hoped she wasn’t lying for Aroconus and Miri’s sake. Those two has decided to trust Dusk. Acheron put his tent in his own pocket dimension, which was probably not as large as Dusk’s but definitely more reliable.

“How far are the Blood Crystal Mountains from here?” Acheron asked.

“Very, very far,” Jackolopieous said. “All the way up north, in fact. We’ll have to stop at Crocus for the night.”

“Crocus? As in the City of Flowers?” Aroconus exclaimed.

“Yes,” Jackolopieous said. “Why?”

“I’ve always wanted to go there,” Aroconus said. “But the Camp of Magic was too far down south for me to ever go.”

“Why would you want to go to the City of  _ Flowers _ ?” Acheron asked, snorting a bit.

“I’ll have you know that it’s one of the greatest cities in the Sword Coast,” Aroconus said, faking haughtiness by stiffening his posture and adopting a facial expression that looked like he was smelling a putrid odor.

Acheron snorted again. Aroconus could be ridiculous when he wanted to be. Miri, however, was not amused as she spoke, “We don’t have time to screw around. Come on.”

They spent the whole day traveling north, stopping when necessary. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon when they reached Crocus. 

Acheron had to admit that Crocus was a beautiful city, even though he knew nothing about culture or architecture. Every building in the city was grand and unique. People of all races mingled in the streets, talking, laughing, and buying and selling merchandise. In the distance, Acheron caught sight of gold turrets.

“It’s even more beautiful than I imagined,” Aroconus said, smiling.

“Yeah, well we didn’t come to sightsee,” Jackolopieous said briskly. He and Dusk had drawn up their face masks to hide their identities. “We’re going to check into an inn and we’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe it. You’re in Crocus, and all you want to do is sleep?” Aroconus narrowed his eyes. “You’ve never even been here before.”

“Actually, I have, smart guy,” Jackolopieous snapped. “Seven times.”

“Well you’re in no position to order us around,” Aroconus said, lifting his chin defiantly.

Acheron and Miri watched the argument. Acheron was eager to see how this was going to play out. Clearly Dusk did as well. She looked at them, her arms crossed and an amused expression on her face.

“Actually I am,” Jackolopieous interjected. “I am much older and more experienced than you, boy.”

“You’re a criminal, Entreri, and an evil one,” Aroconus snapped.

Jackolopieous looked taken aback. Acheron arched an eyebrow.

“That’s right,” Aroconus said. “I had the orb working in five minutes. What I had really been doing all that time was doing background checks.” He pointed at Dusk, “Dusk Jillian Luzon. Daughter of Loki. Mother unknown. Wanted for 355 large scale robberies, 85 murders, impersonation of nobles, impersonation of a cleric of Sune, consorting with the drow, and the corruption of Captain Levi Grace.”

Dusk looked like she had been slapped in the face.

Aroconus pointed at Jackolopieous, “Jackolopieous Nikita Entreri. Son of Artemis Entreri. Mother unknown. Wanted for 117 murders, 87 cases of arson, impersonation of nobles, and following Dusk Jillian Luzon.”

Dusk glared at him, “Careful, boy. You don’t want to mess with us. Not after hearing that.”

“Well considering that I heard Jackolopieous’s middle name is Nikita, I consider him less threatening,” Acheron commented.

“My name means unconquered and skilled killer,” Jackolopieous said. “And obviously my name was well given.”

“Acheron is the leader of this quest,” Miri said, her tone frigid. “He will decide if we can explore the city.”

Without hesitation, Acheron said, “You go get rooms at an inn. We’ll be around the city. Anything to get away from you assholes.”

With that, Acheron turned his back on Dusk and Jackolopieous. Aroconus and Miri did the same. Then Acheron heard a great shout from Dusk. He turned around just as Dusk kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying into a stack of crates. She pursued him, slashing with her knife. Acheron crossed his hands in front of his face before he felt a sharp pain on his arm and he hissed as he backed away.

The actions had caused Dusk’s mask to fall down.

A woman gasped. “It’s Dusk Jillian Luzon!”

The crowd backed away, but Dusk didn’t seem to notice. She stood in front of another pile of crates. “Soon, I’ll be wanted for  _ 86 _ murders!” she exclaimed.

“Acheron!” Miri yelped, looking worried.

Suddenly, a handaxe came flying from out of the crowd. It hit the crates behind Dusk, dangerously close to her face.

The crowd parted and a dwarf woman walked out. She had dark brown eyes and choppy dirty blonde hair with one long braid on her right shoulder. She was wearing brown leather armor that showed off her buff arms. She had another handaxe in her other hand.

“Thank the gods!” a man in the crowd cried.

“Who the hell is this?” Dusk demanded, pointing at the dwarf.

“I'm Irene Bellona,” said the dwarf as she walked over to them and pulled her first axe out of the crate. She had a heavy Dwavish accent. “And it's best be talk at Diamond Dragon.”

 

Irene led them to a building a few blocks up from their location. It was a rather large and gorgeous building with a sign that said, “ Diamond Dragon. ” The image of a dragon was curled around the words.

“What is this supposed to be?” Dusk demanded as Irene led them inside the building and down the walkways. They passed workshops that had people working on projects, and forges that were heated by… dragons!

Jackolopieous jumped and drew Scather.

“No need for the sword, Jumpy,” Irene said briskly. “These are gold dragons, brass dragons, and other Stoker class dragons that manage out forges. They're trained.”

Jackolopieous scowled and sheathed his sword.

“To answer your question, Luzon, this is the guild hall for Diamond Dragon, the most successful artisan guild in all the Nine Worlds,” Irene said.

Finally, they reached a workshop. It was rather spacious, with a forge managed by a large Monstrous Nightmare with brass colored scales, and a table full of jewels, and tools for gemcutters and jewelers.

Another dwarf woman was sitting at the desk. She had the same dark brown eyes and dirty blonde hair as Irene, but hers was long and a bit wavy. She was wearing armor made of the brass scales and she wore a helmet with gold coins dangling from the ends.

The dwarf looked up her work and frowned, “Irene, who are all these people?”

“Two of them look like wizards, and two of them are criminals,” Irene replied. “And I'm not sure what that one is.” She pointed at Miri.

Miri crossed her arms, “I'm a sorceress, genius.”

“Sorceress,” Irene said. “Guys, this is my sister Krista. Krista, this is Dusk Jillian Luzon, Jackolopieous Entreri, and… uh…” she looked at the three magic users. “Sorry, I don't know your names.”

“You never asked,” Acheron snapped.

“Watch it, Carrot Top,” Irene snapped.

Acheron’s hand flew to his hair and he suddenly felt self conscious. His face burned, “Call me that again! I dare you!” He shouted, his hand curling into a fist. Smoke curled from it.

“I'm Aroconus Blackfire. This is my twin brother Acheron Blackfire and that's Miri La’arnie,” Aroconus said before Acheron could burn down the Diamond Dragon guild hall.

“Nice to meet you,” Krista said. “Now why are there two criminals in our workshop?”

“We got caught up in this quest,” Jackolopieous replied.

Irene's ears perked up, “Quest?”

“Yeah, we have to close the Nine Gates of Helheim,” Acheron explained. “There was a prophecy and all. And these guys-,” he pointed at Dusk and Jackolopieous, “Have skills that can help us. Also they have an orb.”

“Not anymore. You've been carrying around. Plus you traded for it with the ring,” Dusk said, arms crossed.

“Okay,” Aroconus shrugged.

“Interesting,” Irene looked bored, but her eyes sparkled with interest.

“What are you doing in Crocus? A Gate to Helheim can't be here,” Krista said.

“We're on our way to the Blood Crystal Mountains and we stopped here on our way,” Acheron explained. 

“Dusk and Jackolopieous were supposed to get a few inn rooms, but you saw what happened,” Aroconus said.

“Watch it, Smart Guy,” Dusk snapped. “I can still kill you.”

“If you all are going to kill each other, do it outside! I don't want to clean up blood!” Irene snapped.

Dusk rolled her eyes.

“Now, it was nice chatting with you guys,” Acheron said. It was true about Krista but not so true about Irene. “But we have to go find an inn.” He reached into his pocket and found only a few wrapped mints. “And some money.”

“Hey, why don't you stay at our place?” Krista spoke up. “My sister and I have an apartment, with a spare bedroom and some couches.”

“Krista!” Irene shot a look towards her sister, but they couldn't see what it was.

“I'm sold. I'll take the darkest corner you have,” Jackolopieous said.

“Huh?” Irene turned to look at him, a confused expression on her face.

“Basically I'm going to sleep on the floor,” Jackolopieous said.

Irene nodded, “That's fine with me.”

“I guess I'll take a couch. Since Miri and Dusk are probably going to take the spare bedroom,” Acheron muttered.

“Blackfire, don't make it weird,” Jackolopieous said. 

Acheron's jaw dropped. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Jack!”

“ _ Jackolopieous _ ,” Jackolopieous corrected.

Irene pressed a hand to her mouth, suppressing laughter. Jackolopieous sighed, “I'm not even going to try to explain it anymore.”

“Don't mind Irene. She wouldn't know manners if they danced naked in front of her,” Krista scoffed.

Irene rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let's just get back to our apartment,” she said.

They exited the workshop and Irene called up to the Monstrous Nightmare, “We’re done for the day, Precious!”

The Monstrous Nightmare seemed to nod as it laid down and curled up around the forge.

“Precious?” Jackolopieous asked.

“Hey, I didn't name him. One of the old guild masters did,” Irene said.

Once again, the five followed the dwarf sisters. The sun was halfway below the horizon. Few people were outside, and a few gave Dusk and Jackolopieous mistrustful glances. Acheron didn’t care. That was their problem.

The seven of them walked up nine staircases. It was really tiring, and Acheron hated stairs.

Irene used a key to unlock the door labeled “902.”

“Welcome to our humble home,” she grumbled as she went over to the kitchen and filled a mug with mead.

“Pretty nice apartment compared to others I've seen,” Jackolopieous commented as he walked around, inspecting all the corners. He tapped his boots against one of the darker ones. “I’ll take this one. Can I use this pillow?” he grabbed it without waiting for the answer. “Thanks.” He then collapsed onto the floor, his head on the pillow.

Krista raised an eyebrow, “Uhm…?”

“Don’t question us  _ criminals _ ,” Dusk said, teeth grinding against each other as she glared at Aroconus. Aroconus crossed his arms and frowned at her.

Irene finished her mead, “Ohhh-kay.” Acheron had a feeling that she could sense the tension between Dusk and Aroconus, but didn’t question it. 

“Spare bedroom’s the last room in the hallway,” Krista pointed it out. 

Dusk nodded and disappeared down that hallway.

Irene looked at Miri, “Aren’t you gonna use the guest room too?”

“I don’t feel comfortable sleeping with a murderess,” Miri replied.

Acheron gave her a sideways glance and Miri blushed scarlet before snarling, “You know what I mean! I’ll just sleep on the floor. You and Aroconus take the couches.”

Acheron sighed, “No, you take the couch,” he said.

Miri froze, “What?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said take the couch!” Acheron snapped.

“I heard what you said,” Miri shot back, folding her arms over her chest. “I just couldn’t believe it.”

“Well, believe it,” Acheron huffed, crossing the room. “I’ll just sleep on the other side of Aroconus’s couch. He doesn’t take up much space.”

Meanwhile, Irene and Krista had been soaking up all the drama without saying a word. Aroconus looked at them, “Happens all the time. Get used to it.”

 

Long after the five guests had fallen asleep, Irene sat in the kitchen, drinking mead as usual. Her gaze was once again on Dragon Slayer, and this time Krista was there as well.

“Thirty years after that thing with Peren and Freya,” Irene spoke. “And we meet not one, but two half elves.”

“This has to be a sign,” Krista agreed. “But which one will be worthy?”

“Heh, that redhead’s got a certain fire in his eyes,” Irene said, chuckling a bit. “I like that. But I’m not sure if the sword will.”

Krista rolled her eyes. “You made more than half of it. If its preferences are similar to anyone’s it’d be yours.”

Irene snorted. “Maybe so. But there’s only one way to find out.” She paused. “It’s official. Looks like we’re gonna tag along on their little quest.”


	6. The Suicide Squad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is Chapter 6. I'm sorry if it seems rushed.
> 
> Disclaimer:
> 
> I do not own the rights to the name Suicide Squad, they belong to DC Comics. I also don't own the bomb in the neck thing. However, I created Spellbombs.
> 
> Also, some weird things will be said in this chapter.

Chapter 6: The Suicide Squad

Miri was awoken when she felt someone shaking her shoulder. Rolling onto her side, she saw Jackolopieous standing above her.

Miri screamed and sat up. Jackolopieous screamed and jumped back. Acheron got up, screamed, and grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a gold sword inlaid with rubies, and pointed it at Jackolopieous, “Stay back!”

“Ah! Sharp sword!” Jackolopieous yelped.

Miri scowled at Jackolopieous, “Do you have to be a creep?”

“That's considered creepy?” Jackolopieous raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah,” Acheron snapped.

“Well I'm an assassin. Creepy is what I do,” Jackolopieous replied.

“You know what?” Aroconus sat up. Thank the gods he didn't scream before he did so, Miri thought. “You do you,” said Aroconus.

“Thank you!” Jackolopieous said.

Aroconus arched his eyebrows, “You're not mad about me exposing you yesterday?”

“Oh, I'm plenty mad, I'm just good at not showing it,” Jackolopieous said cheerfully.

Dusk came out of the guestroom. She looked well rested and was dressed in the same outfit as the previous day. Her chestnut hair was still in bouncy waves.

She stretched like a cat before saying, “Alright guys, pack up. We're going now so we don't have to pay them.”

“That hypothetically  _ could _ work, but I'm already awake,” said a voice.

They all either flinched or jumped, except for Dusk and Jackolopieous. Dusk turned towards Irene with a scowl, “How long have you been there.”

“Long enough to hear this entire conversation,” Irene replied. She walked over to the living room and eyed the sword in Acheron's hands. “Where did you get that?”

“Oh, uhm… it was the closest sharp thing I could find,” Acheron replied.

“Do you have any idea what that is?”

“A gold sword?”

“ _ That _ , my dear boy, is Dragon Slayer. Me and my sister's proudest creation,” Irene said.

“Dragon Slayer?” Miri frowned. She had heard of several adventurers being bestowed the title, but she had never heard of a weapon called that.

“It's a fairly new artifact,” Irene said, almost as if she had read Miri's thoughts. “We named it so because it's designed to combat dragons.”

“Cool!” Acheron said. “Do you use it regularly?”

“Asgard no. I'm a giant slayer, and I prefer axes to swords any day, thanks very much,” Irene said. “But I'm keeping it for the time being.”

“Who is it for?” Aroconus asked.

“No one at the moment. Let's just say the… ah, original recipient was deemed unworthy by the gods themselves,” Irene said, her tone guarded. She clearly didn't want anymore questions.

Dusk, however, looked uninterested. “Yeah, yeah, thanks for the room and all, but we've got to get going. Quest to close gates and all.”

“Hold it there, rogue,” Irene said, blocking the front door. “You're not going anywhere.”

“Tch, try me. I've escaped more secure places than this,” Dusk huffed.

“Like Scarlet Prison?” Irene snorted.

Dusk's tone turned defensive and cold, “Yes, actually.”

“Well relax, Luzon. I'm not keeping you here. In fact, Krista and I are coming with you.”

“What??” Dusk demanded.

Jackolopieous arched his eyebrows, suddenly looking interested.

“Your little party has a good number of magic and enough of stealth. What you really need is strength,” Irene said. “Which me and my sister have got in the bag.”

Dusk grit her teeth. Miri could practically feel her annoyance, but before the criminal could say something, Aroconus spoke up with a smile, “We'd love your help.” 

“Good. I was wondering if I'd have to annoyingly tag alongside you. That would have been a hassle,” Irene said.

Miri tried to imagine Irene as annoying. She couldn't. She could only picture the dwarf stubbornly accompanying them, ignoring requests to go away.

Another door opened and Krista came out of it. “So Irene, what's the status? Are they letting us or are we going anyway?”

“They're letting us,” Irene replied.

“That's… surprising,” Krista spoke.

“Well, you still got all packed up,” Irene pointed out.

Krista rolled her eyes.

“Anyways, I did some research last night to find out the status of the Gates,” Aroconus said. “I found out the normal guardians are missing. The Midgard Gate is guarded by a  _ Death Knight. _ ”

“Um, what's a Death Knight?” Miri raised an eyebrow.

“Only one of the most dangerous undead creatures ever,” Jackolopieous cut in. “They're paladin's who broke their oaths and died without atoning. Hel lets them out of Helheim sometimes. And now one is guarding the opening Gate. We're gonna need help.”

“Right. I'll call for reinforcements from the Camp of Magic,” Aroconus said.

“No,” Jackolopieous said.

Acheron jumped to his feet.  _ “No? _ Who's supposed to help us with the Death Knight??”

“You're gonna need professionals. Professionals who don't mind using dirty tricks and breaking the rules,” Jackolopieous replied.

Miri glanced around the room. Aroconus had gone pale while Acheron shuddered slightly, “What kind of  _ dirty _ tricks? The kinds Dusk uses?”

Dusk growled, “He means breaking the rules! Attacking an opponent’s back!  _ Murdering  _ them! Jackolopieous wants to recruit thieves and murderers.”

“ _ You're _ thieves and murderers!” Irene shot back.

“Good point,” Jackolopieous said. “But there are others. I met some in Scarlet Prison.”

“So we're going to Scarlet Prison to get criminals?” Aroconus demanded.

“Yes,” Jackolopieous said.

“I hate this plan. Let's do it,” Irene said.

“Really? You agree to this?” Krista scowled.

“As skilled as we all are, by ourselves we can't defeat that Death Knight,” Jackolopieous said. “We'll gather more skills at Scarlet Prison.”

 

And that's what they ended up doing.

“I'm still not sure how we ended up like this,” Miri said. 

“Jackolopieous is pretty stubborn when he wants to be,” Aroconus crossed his arms.

Almost as soon as they had come, the guards had tried to subdue Dusk and Jackolopieous. They failed, and they began talking to them.

“You want to fight undead with criminals,” said one of them.

“Yes,” Jackolopieous said.

“Normally, I'd say no,” replied the guard. “But I don't like you. So knock yourself out.”

“Great,” Jackolopieous said.

“This is surprisingly easy,” Irene said as they followed the guard into the prison. “I hope it's not an ambush.”

“If it is, it's not gonna work,” Dusk said.

“And how will we control the criminals?” Asked Aroconus. 

“Oh, don't worry about that. I know a way,” Jackolopieous said.

Acheron rolled his eyes and wandered to the side of the room, where various spells were on display.

The guard brought them to a large binder. He said, “This is a logbook of all the inmates. Take your pick.”

He left, muttering something about criminals and death and paychecks.

Jackolopieous went up to it and flipped a page. “Oo. I remember him.”

Dusk came over and she blanched. “No. Absolutely not.”

“You're the only one with a bad past with him,” Jackolopieous shot back.

“ _ Qui est-ce? _ ” Aroconus whispered, slipping in Elvish as he often did when he was nervous.  _ Who is it? _

“ _ Je ne sais pas _ ,” Acheron replied.  _ I don't know _ .

Miri walked up to the logbook to see who Dusk and Jackolopieous were looking at. The file read “Captain Levi Grace.” Apparently this person was charged with several murders, some of which were his superior officers. Miri recognized the name. Aroconus had mentioned it when he revealed his background check on Dusk.

_ The corruption of Captain Levi Grace. _ There was something Dusk wasn't telling them.

Miri read on. Levi’s skills were listed next. He was apparently a very skilled swordsman. Quite possibly the best swordsman in the Nine Worlds! Also quite possibly a sociopath.

“If he's the best swordsman in the Nine Worlds, we should probably bring him along,” Miri said.

“You're asking for fighting to ensue,” Dusk sneered.

“I don't know what you did to Captain Grace and frankly I don't care,” Miri said. “This is our quest, not yours. And I say we should bring Captain Grace, even if he is possibly a sociopath.”

“Swordsman as well.” Acheron added.

“Exactly,” Miri said.

Dusk growled, “Fine. You asked for it.”

Jackolopieous turned the page. “Harleia Tormentor.” He read.

Miri looked at the file. Harleia Tormentor was literally insane. It really said so on the paper. Harleia had committed many crimes, including theft, arson, murder, impersonation, serving Asmodeus, summoning servants of Asmodeus on hallowed ground, and destroying ten mental asylums. This lady was pure chaos.

“Why would we want her?” Aroconus asked as he and Acheron came up behind them.

“Because she's a strong magic user,” Dusk replied.

“That's right, because that outweighs all the murders she's committed,” Aroconus said sarcastically.

“Don't worry, when I'm done with them they won't even think about double crossing you,” Jackolopieous said.

Aroconus scowled.

“Next on the list,” Jackolopieous said as he flipped the page. “Kao Lian.”

Kao Lian didn't have much of a criminal record. He just had summoning servants of Asmodeus of hallowed ground. His prison sentence was cut shorter because of his involvement in arresting Harleia Tormentor.

“Maybe he's not so bad,” Aroconus said.

Acheron looked over Jackolopieous's shoulder. “He's a drow apparently.”

“Uh oh,” Aroconus muttered. “Drows are the worst.”

“Drow?” Miri asked.

“Dark elves. They live underground and if they weren't too busy killing each other, they'd be taking over the Nine Worlds as we speak,” said Aroconus.

“But he doesn't have much of a criminal record,” said Miri.

Acheron scoffed, “I'm keeping an eye on him.”

They turned the page.

“Romero Falone,” Dusk read. “So he got caught.”

“You know him?” Miri asked.

“Yes, he's my brother,” Dusk said.

When Miri raised an eyebrow, Dusk rolled her eyes. “Not full blooded of course. Loki is a promiscuous immortal. He has many children.”

“Okay. Ew. TMI,” said Aroconus. “So what's do special about Romero?”

“He's a druidic bandit from the Blood Crystal Mountains. He's really good at shapeshifting and swordplay,” Dusk said. “We're definitely bringing him.”

“And if you bring him, you bring his cellmate,” Jackolopieous turned the page. “Torque Feng. Half orc smuggler.”

“How can a half orc be a smuggler?” Miri asked, thinking of the large, bulky orcs from the pictures in Dworgyn’s textbooks.

“Hey, in the crime world, we like to keep open minds,” said Jackolopieous. “He's got brute strength like orcs and intelligence and creativity like humans. He's like an improved version of an orc.”

“Aren't orcs mentally insane?” Acheron asked.

Jackolopieous checked the page, “This one is 100% sane.” He flipped the page. “Ara Naïlo.”

“Hey, she's the leader of the Oathbreakers of Shar,” Dusk said.

“Not anymore, now that she's in prison,” Jackolopieous said.

“She's too dangerous,” Aroconus said.

“More dangerous is better,” Jackolopieous said with a sickening grin. “Okay one more. The next one is Astryd Warpiker. Regular outcast dwarf. In league with the duergar.”

“They're almost as bad as the drow,” Aroconus declared.

“Care to go into detail?” Dusk asked.

“No, because you all will just ignore me,” Aroconus said.

“You learn quickly,” Dusk said. Then shouted, “Alright! Bring out Levi Grace, Harleia Tormentor, Kao Lian, Romero Falone, Torque Feng, Ara Naïlo, and Astryd Warpiker!”

 

The first criminal brought out was Kao Lian. He looked almost just like Dusk remembered drow to look like: ebony skin and white hair. However, unlike the long styles Dusk had seen drow wear before, Lian's was cut short and spiky, and unlike most drow, who had red eyes, Lian's were lavender. He was wearing a gray prison jumpsuit and was accompanied only by two guards. He didn't seem to be struggling against them, he just stared into the distance as if he could see something they couldn't.

Harleia Tormentor was wheeled out next. She had a demented smile on her face and giggled softly. She had a girly giggle, and Dusk could almost be fooled into thinking she was just an innocent woman who didn't want to grow up… except for the fact that each one of her limbs was chained up and tied up, even her head. Her wings were in clamps. Those guards weren't taking any chances with the blue haired woman.

She grinned at them, “Ooh, look Lian! The King and Queen of Crime! We better bow, or they'll make us pay!” She taunted.

Lian ignored Harleia's comment. When she noticed this, she growled through gritted teeth, “ _ Don't you think? _ ”

“Yes,” Lian said as if forced to reply.

Dusk raised an eyebrow. Was this the magic binding that Harleia put on Lian? Did she really get pleasure in magically forcing the drow to agree with her? Maybe it worked for her, but Dusk got pleasure in knowing she tricked her enemies into making bad decisions that would lead to their doom.

Torque Feng was wheeled out next. Or at least Dusk figured he was Torque, judging by his ripped gray arms. His face was hidden by a muzzle. He was whipping his head every which way, but the muzzle held fast. It also clamped his jaws shut, preventing him from roaring his anger out.

And then Dusk saw her brother, Romero Falone, locked in a cage like an animal (which he was half of the time). Dusk hadn't seen him in a few years and prison clearly hadn't done wonders for him. His long hair was uncombed and full of split ends. The cage was too small for him and he was forced into an uncomfortable position just to fit in there.

His eyes widened when he saw her, “Dusk?!”

Dusk glared at the guard. “Why the hell is he in a cage?”

The guard shrugged, “Half the time he tries to turn into an animal.”

Dusk glared at him. “You're all bastards.”

“And you're a bitch.” The guard shot back. “What's your point?”

Dusk crossed her arms and watched the guard leave. She wanted to kill him right then and there, but she refrained. There would be time for killing later, she reassured herself.

Ara Nailo was dragged out next. She had a thin collar around her slender, graceful neck. A scowl distorted her lovely features and she was held still by two strong guards. A few other guards cautiously surrounded her. Dusk could only guess that she was pretty violent, seeing the many guards and the shock collar. Her black hair was still shiny and not too tangled, which meant she hadn't been in prison long.

Following them was the dwarf Astryd Warpiker. Since she was so short, the guards couldn’t physically restrain her, so there were long chains attached to her handcuffs. She looked more annoyed than angry, as if she'd been woken up from sleep.

The last figure to be taken out was Levi Grace. His hands were clamped behind his back and two guards dragged him by his slender biceps. He looked calm, serene, almost, and he didn't struggle.

That is, until he saw her.

His pale gray eyes widened and he lurched forward, gasping in anger. The guards were caught… well, off guard and almost lost their grip on him, but they were able to steady themselves.

Aroconus jumped in surprise as Levi shouted, “Release me! Let me at the bitch!” He spat out the last part and some actual saliva was expelled onto the floor.

“What in the Nine Hells did you do make him so pissed?” Irene questioned.

“You don't need to know,” Dusk said, frostily, lifting her chin.

Harleia laughed, arching an eyebrow, “Looks like Gracey's goin’ crazy!!”

Levi glared at her, “Shut up, you nutter.”

“Or what?” Harleia said in a baby voice, her red lips set in a mock pout.

“Or I'll slice your damaged head clean off your shoulders with one pristine slash,” Levi threatened calmly. There was no remorse in his cold eyes.

Harleia giggled. “But you can't do it with your hands tied up!” She reminded cheerfully, as if she were reminding a friend of the rules in a game of make belief. Dusk sighed. What a childish woman.

Jackolopieous sighed, “Oh, enough already! We get it, you're all assholes.”

Ara smirked. “You learn fast. Unfortunately you'll also die fast.”

“I could kill you even when you're wide awake and alert with your armor on, Ara Naïlo,” Jackolopieous crossed his arms. Dusk knew he wasn't bluffing.

Ara snorted, “What are you, an assassin?” She retorted.

“Yes I am, actually. I'm  _ the _ Assassin.” Jackolopieous folded.

Ara looked a bit concerned. “Ohh, you're him, aren't you? Jackolopieous Entreri? The one guy Dusk has never slept with?”

Acheron snickered and Jackolopieous said, “Really? Is that how you people remember me?”

Levi sniffed disdainfully, “How immature.”

“Anyway, we've called you out from prison for a reason.” Jackolopieous said. “You're going to help us out on a quest.”

Dusk mentally counted to ten before Astryd burst out laughing. Harleia and Ara soon joined her, and Acheron scowled. 

“We can work  _ something _ out,” said Dusk. “I can handle the men.”

“No,” Levi scowled.

“Of course, I'll have to do something different for Romero, since he's my brother and all,” Dusk said. She moved her gaze to Torque, “You'd better be gentle, big guy.” She winked.

Torque snorted.

“I wouldn't mind some of you either,” Harleia said with a lustful grin, eyeing Dusk's body and wiggling her eyebrows.

Dusk rolled her eyes.

Acheron scowled. He pulled something out of his pockets. It looked like a needle. He then went around and used it to pierce everyone's necks.

“What the hell are you doing, kid?” Astryd demanded.

“Keeping you in line.” Acheron said, snapping his fingers. 

Astryd yelped, her hand flying to the side of her neck, where a small puncture wounds was located from the shot Acheron had given her. She gasped, glaring at him with her dark green eyes. “What… did… you… do?!”

“Oh, not much, I just planted a little Spellbomb into each of your necks,” Acheron said.

“Spellbombs? But those are illegal.” Levi said, frowning thoughtfully.

“I know,” Acheron said cooly.

“How did you get your hands on those?” Romero asked.

“I have my ways,” Acheron said mysteriously.

“Acheron…” Miri said, her expression unreadable.

Dusk smirked and patted Acheron's shoulder, “Looks like you have a future in crime, Blackfire.”

Acheron flicked her hand away. “Don't touch me.” He said.

Dusk scoffed. “Whatever.”

Jackolopieous went over to Dusk. “How did the kid get the idea? I was just gonna bluff.”

Dusk snorted. “Bluff? You?”

“Kao Lian and Torque Feng are okay, mostly,” Jackolopieous said. “I wasn't going to hurt them.” he crossed his arms. “I don't like Acheron. I don't like him one bit.”

 

Deep in Helheim, hidden in the shadows of her dark realm, a goddess watched the questers with a magic projection. She chuckled darkly, “So… the mortals think they can close my Gates.” She chuckled again, before growing darkly and punching the arm of her bone throne so hard it cracked. “They're wrong.”

As soon as she lifted her hand, the bones repaired themselves. The magic projection zoomed in on a red haired boy, eyeing the squad of criminals coldly, his copper eyes holding distrust.

“Acheron Blackfire.” The death goddess whisper, her black lips curling into a malicious grin. “Son of the wicked king, Peren belle de Vil. How interesting.”

She clawed at the magical projection with her long talons of fingernails, painted a glossy black. The image dispersed and the shadows seemed to become more dark. Only the goddess’s mismatched eyes, one pale blue, and the other milky white, were visible, as they glowed with an intense light.

“I wonder how long it will take before he succumbs to the darkness.”


	7. Aroconus Saves the Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the first part of the dialogue, it's a Suicide Squad reference.  
> I didn't have my Monster Manuel on me when I wrote this chapter so the water elemental may not be accurate.

Chapter 7: Aroconus Saves the Day

“You're going on a deadly mission to a place of utmost danger, and you're probably going to get yourself killed.” Said the red haired boy, Acheron, if Levi remembered correctly. They were walking through a field of green grass, heading North towards the Blood Crystal Mountains, where the Orb of Savras had revealed was the location of the Midgard Gate.

“So we're like some kind of suicide squad?” Levi grumbled sarcastically.

“Suicide squad…” Acheron pondered about the name. “I like that. I'm calling you guys the Suicide Squad.”

“Please refrain,” Lian huffed.

Levi sighed, wondering how long he'd be able to deal with these people. Of course, he'd thought about rebelling and killing the annoying ones (aka Dusk because she was a bitch, Jackolopieous because he helped Dusk and is a judgemental bastard, Acheron because he's a loud mouthed doofus who managed to keep them all in line), spare the less annoying ones (Miri, Aroconus, Krista, even Irene who might have been annoying but she was annoying the other annoying ones. Levi could respect that).

But he'd felt the tiny Spellbomb enter his bloodstream. There was no telling where it was now. And seeing as what Acheron could do with it, he could kill them or torture them at any given time. He didn't even have to say a magic spell. The kid was a natural when it came to pain.

“Oh, we're going to pick up one more person,” Aroconus spoke up. “It'll be quick; it's on our way to the Mountains.”

Romero crossed his arms. “Who is it?”

Aroconus turned to face Romero, their blue eyes meeting, “I understand it might be someone you know well.”

Romero narrowed his eyes, “What? Who are you talking about?”

Aroconus turned around and didn't speak another word.

Levi studied Aroconus. The brown haired boy seemed calm and in control. His messy hair and slightly rumpled robes showed that he had a certain degree of carelessness. Or maybe he'd been up at night doing… never mind. The boy looked young. But, his ears were slightly pointed, marking him as a half elf.

Levi glanced over at Acheron, who was walking next to Aroconus. They looked really similar… maybe they were fraternal twins. But Acheron looked to be the stronger one. Aroconus was the weaker one. Possibly the useless one.

_ Great _ , Levi thought scornfully.  _ Just great _ .

The ground suddenly started rumbling suddenly.

“Uh oh,” Aroconus muttered. “This can't be a good sign.”

“Relax. Maybe this is just a regular earthquake,” Jackolopieous suggested.

Over the hills in the distance, water spilled down the slopes.

“Not a regular earthquake!” Jackolopieous yelped.

“It's a flood!” Acheron cried.

Levi looked over at the water. The water wasn't really pouring down the hills. It was… gathering together? It formed ghostly eyes and a ghostly mouth. It resembled a ghost made out of water.

“That is not a flood. That is a water elemental.” Levi declared.

“Perfect,” Ara grumbled.

The water elemental raged across the ground, leaving mud in its wake. It roared, but it sounded as if someone were screeching underwater. However, it was also extremely loud.

“How are we going to fight it?” Krista said.

Miri shot an orb of ice. It hit the elemental in the chest, but froze only a little part of it. The elemental shrugged what passed for it's shoulders and the ice melted back into water.

“I'm not strong enough to freeze it!” Miri said.

Romero stepped forward, “Guys, guys, relax. Water is my major.”

“This isn't a bardic college, son of Loki!” Astryd snapped.

“Whatever, dwarf!” Romero waved her off. He ran at the water elemental, extending an arm out.

Some of the water that made up the water elemental moved a bit. Sweat dotted on Romero's eyebrows as he struggled to control the elemental’s water.

The elemental seemed to laugh before using a water limb to slap Romero back. Romero yelped and flew backwards.

Astryd snickered. “You were saying?”

Levi rolled his eyes as Miri asked sarcastically, “Acheron, wanna contribute?”

“Really?” Acheron growled. He summoned a fireball and threw it at the water elemental. As soon as the fire made contact with the water, it snuffed out.

“See?  _ See?! _ That's why I can't fight the damn water elemental!” Acheron shouted, grabbing Miri by the straps of her dress and shaking her slightly.

Miri snapped and slapped Acheron across the face, “Get your hands off me!” 

Acheron fell backwards, releasing Miri. He pressed his hand to his cheek, which has turned an irritated red, and growled at Miri, “You little bitch! No wonder you don't have friends!”

Miri gasped slightly.

“Is now really the time for childish arguments?” Levi snapped.

“Back off, asshole!” Miri snapped at him.

Levi was taken aback. A mere child dared to talk to him that way?

“I'll deal with you later,” Levi snapped.

The water elemental seemed to sigh before it swelled. It swelled to a large size before it exploded, swallowing them in waves of water.

 

Aroconus choked on water. Normally, he was a good swimmer, but he hadn't expected to be swimming then, plus his wet robes were heavy. His arms seemed to be injured from the force of the water. He could barely tread water.

_ How easy it would be just to give up _ , Aroconus thought, his arms weakening. He began to sink below the water.

“AROCONUS!” Acheron screamed from somewhere in the water elemental.

Aroconus sunk below the water, his entire world tinting blue. He closed his eyes to keep the water out. 

_ Is this how I'm going to die? Drowning in a water elemental? _ He thought.

Suddenly, an arm wrapped around him. His robe was tugged off, leaving him in just his pants and tunic. He instantly felt lighter, but his arms were still hurting. He could barely move them. His lungs burned for air. All he could think about was that if his rescuer let go, he would be dead.

Luckily, the person holding him kept holding in, bringing him to the surface. Aroconus gasped and coughed. He blinked water out of his eyes and turned to see who had grabbed him.

He wasn't going to lie, Aroconus has expected either Acheron or Miri, maybe even Irene or possibly Jackolopieous. But he saw Kao Lian, the drow.

“Wh-what’s going on?” Aroconus dared to questioned.

“Damned elemental. I didn't know elementals were capable of swallowing people,” Lian muttered. He then looked at Aroconus, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah… thanks.” Aroconus said. “Why did you do it?” He asked.

“I don't kill,” said Lian. “I don't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it.”

Aroconus exhaled as the elemental’s water body rocked, creating waves. He saw the others screaming and yelling as they were dragged by various currents, bobbing up and down. Acheron screamed the loudest, for he was now useless because he couldn't conjure any fire.

The water rippled as the water was sucked back into the elemental’s body. They all fell to the ground from different heights. Torque was unaffected, being extremely resilient. Acheron hit his head on a tree.

Aroconus landed flat on his back and groaned. He sat up, and looked up to see Lian land perfectly on two feet.

“How…?” Aroconus muttered, gripping his head.

“Really intense agility training,” Lian answered. 

“ALRIGHT EVERYBODY, GET YOUR ASSES OFF THE GROUND!” shouted Irene. “We've got a water elemental to defeat!”

“Yeah, that we don't know how to defeat!” Romero snapped.

Astryd sneered at him, “You're just sour because I was right and you were wrong.”

“Your aren't always right, Astryd!” Ara shouted.

Aroconus gripped his head. “All this arguing…”

“SHUT UP GUYS! ACHERON'S FRICKIN HURT!” Miri yelled. She was kneeling by Acheron, who was moaning in pain, blood running down the side of his face.

Levi crossed his arms. “But you hate Acheron. You should just kill him.”

Aroconus wanted to kill Levi. He wished he had the power over the bomb in his neck.

However, Miri charged right at him, fist curled. She punched Levi in the face.

Across the field, Dusk held her breath. Levi's hand flew to his face as he glared at Miri, expression dark. “You shouldn't have done that, you little ice bitch.”

Miri charged at him again, but this time Levi shoved her aside. She stumbled and landed smack in a puddle of mud.

Dusk snorted, giggling a bit and Jackolopieous frowned at her.

“Oh my gods,” Aroconus muttered. He tried to stand up, “Guys, you're being so im-WHOA!” he yelped as he fell, feeling a headrush and the world turned upside down.

“Ohhh-kay, why is he drunk?” Dusk said.

Aroconus wanted to snap at her, say that he'd nearly drowned, but that wouldn't help his point. He stood up again, slowly this time, before proclaiming, “Stop arguing. It's getting us nowhere.”

“Well what do you know?!” Ara snapped.

Miri growled and stood up, mud dripping down her entire left side, “Excuse you, he's the smartest in the whole camp.”

“And also a mere child,” Astryd shot back. “He knows nothing.”

“Could you maybe shut up?” Romero asked.

“Since you said maybe, it ain't an order.” Astryd smirked.

“Why you little-,” Romero fumed, his fingernails growing into claws.

Aroconus put his hand up, “Guys, please stop-,”

“We don't need to listen to you!” Harleia shouted, gritting her teeth.

“Oh, this is just like you, you stupid knucklehead! Ignoring all logic!” Even the level headed Lian was getting involved.

“You shut your mouth!” Harleia growled, taking out her wand and making a stabbing motion at Lian. A magical force shoved him back into a tree.

Levi pointed his sword at Harleia, and Ara shouted, “DON'T YOU DARE USE THAT THING OR I SWEAR I'LL BREAK IT IN TWO!”

“Don't think dirty thoughts,” Levi muttered as Astryd sighed, “Oh, very mature.”

Something snapped inside of Aroconus. He didn't know what. He was tired of being the only sane one, tired of being ignored. He pulled out his wand and held it to the side of his throat and used a spell to amplify his voice.

“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!”

Everybody did so. Even the elemental froze (figuratively, not literally). 

“IF YOU ASSHOLES CAN'T WORK TOGETHER TO DEFEAT ONE WATER ELEMENTAL, I FEAR FOR MY LIFE,” Aroconus bellowed. 

Then he set to work.

 

Aroconus worked as fast as the wind. Fitting, since he summoned wind from all directions, almost like a tornado, whipping everyone's hair at top speed. Miri shivered in her muddy clothes. Levi almost regretted pushing her, since he hadn't meant to shove her into a mud puddle, but not enough to apologize.

Aroconus was yelling alot, making a tornado out of all the wind he'd summoned. The water elemental was being sucked into it, little by little.

The others were watching in awe, even Acheron, who'd regained consciousness.

Acheron looked over at Levi, “What the hell did you all do?”

“You assume we made him do that?” Levi grumped, crossing his arms.

“Well, yeah,” Acheron replied. “I'm the angry one. Aroconus is the calm one.” He looked at Aroconus, then back at Levi. “Dusk and Jackolopieous have picked some pretty big assholes.”

“Not one of us is a bigger asshole than Dusk,” Levi muttered.

“Huh?” Acheron tilted his head.

“None of your business, brat.” Levi snapped.

The water elemental was being mercilessly spun in the tornado. Aroconus made it spin faster and faster and faster, then dispersed it. The elemental went flying before hitting the ground, exploding with water, soaking them all.

Then Aroconus fell.

“Aroconus!” Acheron pushed himself off the ground and ran to his twin brother, followed by Miri. Lian also followed, though Levi wasn't sure why.

Miri glared at Lian, then her expression softened. “Oh, it's you.” She said, looking a bit relieved.

Levi arched an eyebrow. She trusted Lian?

“Why are you letting him get close to Aroconus?!” Acheron snapped, standing in between Lian and Aroconus.

“He saved Aroconus from drowning, Acheron,” Miri said calmly. “And he also defended him from Harleia. Lian… Lian can be trusted.”

Levi saw emotions brew in Lian's eyes. The drow then coughed, and asked Acheron, “So… will you trust me?”

Acheron sighed. “After hearing what you did for him… I guess I kinda have to.” He said with a wry smile before moving aside.

Lian came over to Aroconus and felt around his neck. “He's still alive, but out cold… and literally cold.” He looked over at Miri. “Go get my cloak, please. It's over by the tree.”

Miri nodded and retrieved the cloak. The drow took it with a simple, “Thank you.” Before using it like a blanket to wrap around Aroconus.

“What about the robe?” Acheron asked.

“Take it. He'll want it back.” Lian replied, gently lifting up Aroconus’s unconscious form.

Acheron nodded, “Thanks… Lian.”

Lian nodded before walking away.

“Ooh, look at you,” Harleia said softly but sarcastically. “You're taking care of the baby.”

Lian glared at Harleia. “Harleia, shut up.”

Harleia growled, but she didn't magically abuse Lian like she usually did. Levi wondered if it had something to do with Aroconus.

“This was the worst fight I've ever been in,” Jackolopieous muttered, and Levi looked over at him and Dusk.

“You said it.” Dusk agreed, wringing out her hair. Her wet clothes stuck to her body. She noticed Levi looked and smirked.

Levi averted his gaze, hoping he wasn't blushing. She didn't need to get the wrong idea.

“I think we all deserve some rest,” Romero said. “And food.”

“Yes.” Said Torque. It was the first time he'd spoken since before the argument. “Food is good.”

Romero laughed lightly and punched Torque lightly on the shoulder.

 

“I'd say the quest is going well,” Dworgyn said, looking up from Cassandra’s crystal ball.

“Going well?  _ Going well?! _ ” Cassandra nearly shrieked. “Aroconus nearly died! It was lucky for him that the drow has a kind heart, Dworgyn. But trusting criminals?!  _ Criminals! _ ”

“I did tell him to trust who he must. You must not combust.” Claire spoke, blinking her eyes.

“Regular criminals I can get. But Dusk and Jackolopieous! Levi Grace! Harleia Tormentor!” Cassandra exclaimed.

“The kid is smart though,” said Dworgyn. “Spellbombs! What a…  _ clever _ idea.”

Cassandra said, “Did you give him the Spellbombs, Dworgyn?!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Dworgyn lied cooly.

Claire sighed. “Dworgyn, tell the truth. Did you give Spellbombs to the youth?”

Dworgyn looked at Claire, sighing a bit. Even after all those years, even though she wore a constant sad and distant expression, and her eyes were scratched out, she was still his weakness.

“Yes, I gave him the Spellbombs.” Dworgyn said.

“Oh Dworgyn… Where do I even begin?” Claire said sadly, sitting back. 

“HOW COULD YOU BE SO CARELESS?!” Cassandra yelled.

“Shhhh,” Claire said. “Alassra will hear. After all, she could be near.”

“ _ How could you be so careless?!” _ Cassandra whisper shouted.

Dworgyn sighed, “Look, it wasn't even the kid’s idea. I told him to find Dusk and Jackolopieous because they had the Orb of Savras, and I gave him a ring to use to bribe Dusk with.”

Cassandra face palmed.

“But that… Suicide Squad… was Jackolopieous's idea,” Dworgyn said.

Cassandra crossed her arms. “You lied five minutes ago. What makes you think I'm going to believe you?”

“Cassie, he is telling the truth. I swear by my youth.” Claire said.

Cassandra sighed. “Still, I think we should secretly help them. In case another near death accident happens.”

“Alassra would not allow this, throw that idea into the abyss,” Claire said indignantly.

“Do you want to be responsible for the death of the three?”

Claire sighed. “Fine only the three. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” Dworgyn nodded. They only needed to watch out for Acheron, Aroconus and Miri. “We sneak out tonight.”

 

“Did you get all that, Ea?” Barrey asked.

“Yup,” Ea said. “Aroconus nearly died.”

“What?” Nexa hissed.

“Don't worry, he's okay!” Ea exclaimed softly. “But Dworgyn, Cassandra, and Claire are sneaking out to make sure they don't die!”

Nexa narrowed her eyes. “They won't be the only ones sneaking out.”


	8. Teachers' Day Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer
> 
> I don't really own Dmitra Glass (though her original name is Dmitra Flass), Nevron, Samas Kul, and Zola Sethrakt. They are zulkir of the Red Wizards of Thay in the Forgotten Realms. Well, actually Zola isn't, I can't remember what she is off the top of my head. However, I have put my own spin on then all.
> 
> Rika Amakir is an original character, created by me and Ice Queen and played by Ice Queen.
> 
> Cronan Amakir is mentioned and he is original, though he takes the place of Rassendyll Uoumdolphin (can't take credit for the name nor would I want to) in Dmitra's backstory.
> 
> Once again, I am not entirely sure if I played the dust mephit right (but the cookie thing is original), and once again I apologize for making Claire a character who rhymes her sentences.

Chapter 8: Teacher’s Day Out

“This was a bad idea,” Cassandra declared.

“We haven't even ran into anything yet,” Dworgyn protested.

“Do not tempt fate, for mortals does it hate,” Claire said.

Cassandra sighed. Claire was right. As diviners, both of them knew better than to tempt fate. Dworgyn, however, was a different story…

“Come on, be happy! We're out questing again! I feel a century younger!” Dworgyn exclaimed, laughing.

“What would that make you, about seven hundred?” Asked Cassandra.

“Eh, maybe eight,” Dworgyn shrugged. “I lost all track of time.”

Cassandra snorted, but she had to admit Dworgyn was right. As much as she enjoyed teaching, there was a new rush to sneaking out the Camp of Magic to help a quest behind the scenes. It was like she was young again. She smiled.

“There is a smile, it's better not to be vile,” Claire smiled.

“Yeah!” Dworgyn said. “You should loosen up a bit, Cassie. There are no rules!”

“That's right, there are no rules.” Said a cold female voice. “ _ Anything _ is possible.”

“Oh no,” Cassandra muttered.

“Let me guess,” Dworgyn muttered. “Three Camp of Witchcraft overlords are standing behind me.”

“Very good perception, it's almost creepy how he does that!” said another voice, this one male.

Cassandra turned to see who they were dealing with.

The female figure was tall and imposing, dressed in a crimson and black gown. Her short black hair was swept fashionably around her neck, and her pale complexion was perfect. She had cold red eyes rimmed by long black eyelashes. A blood red ruby pendant hunt around her neck.

To her right was a tall, slim man with a strong stench of brimstone. His robe was made of snakeskin, and his complexion was slightly brown, his yellow eyes slit pupiled like a snake’s. His posture was slumped and casual.

To her left was a short, stocky man with red hair and a bad case of acne. He was wearing silken robes and looked winded and his dark gray eyes were wide with surprise.

Dworgyn crossed his arms. “Dmitra Glass.” He glared at the woman. “And Nevron,” he glanced at the tiefling man with snake eyes, “Still as lazy as ever I see, and is that Samas Kul? Looks like you still can't get transmutation to clear your face.”

Samas Kul growled, eyes narrowing, “I still look better than you.”

“Please, you wish you'd look this good when you reach three hundred years old.” Dworgyn said.

“Oh gods, what are the odds?” Claire muttered.

“Oh Dworgyn, always so amusing,” Dmitra said condescendingly, a smirk dancing at her red lips.

“What are you doing here?” Cassandra demanded.

“Basically Dmitra doesn't want her precious baby to fail on her first real mission,” Nevron said, sounding bored. “So we're here to stop you from helping, blah, blah, blah.”

Dmitra crossed her arms. “Plus, I'm going to get so much pleasure in brutally killing all three of you. You never should have wandered far from the nest, little birdies.”

“What?” Samas spoke up. “They're not birds, why would you call them birds?”

Dmitra scowled at him, “Samas, do you  _ mind _ ?”

“Right, sorry,” Samas raised his hands up in defense.

Nevron sighed, “He's such a pain, why do we ever bring him?”

Samas opened his mouth to say something, but Dworgyn said, “Whoa no!” And slammed his staff against the ground. The grass died and the earth cracked. Zombies clawed their way to the surface, moaning and groaning. Their sharp claws glinted in the sunlight.

Cassandra drew two daggers from her belt and Claire got into a fighting position, her hands glowing golden.

Dmitra chuckled. “How fun.” She waved her hand, and a dark rainbow bolt of magic shot out, hitting Dworgyn in the chest. Dworgyn cried out in pain, losing control over the zombies. The zombies disappeared into the ground.

Samas laughed with glee as Nevron snapped his fingers. An impish figure made out of dust appeared. 

_ A dust mephit _ , Cassandra recognized.

The dust mephit flew at Dworgyn, but Cassandra narrowed her eyes. She darted forward and slashed at the mephit, injuring it's arm. It cried out in pain.

“Keep fighting, Dusty!” Nevron shouted.

“Why should I, life has no meaning!” Dusty snapped. 

“I'll give you a cookie!”

“Fine! But if you don't pay up, you're going to Helheim.”

“Noted.”

“Mephits are fans of cookies. Who knew? Good thing in conjuration I am not a rookie.” Claire said, a smirk appearing on her face.

“Uh, Nevron? I don't like the look on her face,” Samas said.

Claire conjured up a chocolate chip cookie. Dusty began to drool a bit, eyes growing wide at the sight of the cookie.

“Cooooooookie.” He crooned.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Nevron shouted. “Dusty, focus! There is no cookie! I'll… I'll get you a bigger one!”

Dusty was no longer paying attention to Nevron.

Claire smiled, “Go get it boy! And when you get it, be sure to jump for joy!” She threw the cookie. Dusty chased after it excitedly.

“Well,” Nevron said. “Remind me never to summon a dust mephit.”

Dmitra growled, “Absolutely useless!” she glared at Nevron, “You'd best get your act together, Nevron. Narkar does  _ not  _ allow failures, and neither do I!”

“Of course,” Nevron crossed his arms, sounding more bored than respectful.

Dworgyn snickered a bit before he slammed his staff to the ground, creating a shockwave aimed at Nevron. Dmitra and Samas were in the line of fire, so they stumbled a bit, but Nevron got hit by a full blast, sending him flying backwards and hitting his head on a tree. He fell to the ground, unconscious. 

“That works.” Claire shrugged, before frowning at Dworgyn, “No smirks.”

“They're not attacking,” Samas pointed out to Dmitra.

Dmitra looked at Nevron, then at Samas, then sighed, “I'm surrounded by idiots.”

Cassandra took this moment to throw her knife. It hit Samas in the shoulder and he cried out in pain… but there was no blood. Before she had time to consider it, Samas giggled evilly, showing off the knife, which know had a rubber blade.

“It’s amazing what a little bit of transmutation magic can do.” Samas said, sounding serious for once.

He lifted the hand that was holding the knife, and suddenly Claire knocked Cassandra to the ground. The once again metal knife sailed harmlessly over them.

“Damn you, Oracle!” Samas shouted, shaking his fist. “Damn you!”

Claire stood up and held her hand out.

“What? Are you gonna spout out a prophecy?” Samas taunted.

Claire’s hand began to glow gold, “Time for you to shut up. You’d best hope you don’t blow up.”

Samas’s eyes widened, “Wh-What is that supposed to mean??” Then his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the Oracle shot a golden magic missile at him at top speed. He didn’t even have time to move before it made impact with him, sending him flying after Nevron, kicking and screaming.

“Are you kidding me?” Dmitra growled. “You can’t even take out the blind girl?!”

“I am not blind,” Claire said. “Though I don’t blame your foolish  mind.”

Dmitra growled again before spreading her arms. Dark smoke swirled behind her, making her robes and hair fly in the smoke. “You’ll rue the day you dared to face me!” She shouted.

Then she cried out in pain, falling to the ground. The smoke dissipated.

Cassandra looked over at Dworgyn, expecting a smirk on his face. But he just looked confused as he looked at the crossbow bolt buried in Dmitra’s shoulder.

Dmitra was on the ground, breathing heavily has blood flowed from her wound and stained the ground. She looked extremely surprised, but her face was also contorted with pain. Behind her, a red portal opened, sucking her in. It also sucked Nevron and Samas’ unconscious bodies before snapping shut.

“Must of been the Camp of Witchcraft,” Cassandra said.

“I was one second away from killing all of them.”

A dark figure suddenly appeared, wielding a crossbow. He wore dark, ragged leather and a mask that covered his face. He had pure black hair and strange orange eyes.

“Who are you?” Cassandra demanded, pointing her knife at him.

The man tilted his head, before pulling his mask down, “I live here, so really it’s me who should be asking the questions here.”

Cassandra squinted. His rugged, chiseled features were unshaved. He must have been the forest’s ranger. She didn’t recognize him, but Dworgyn did. 

“Leo!”

 

“This was disappointing,” said Zola Sethrakt as she removed the crossbow bolt from Dmitra’s shoulder. Dmitra winced, for Zola did not know how to properly remove an arrow and probably didn’t care. However, the necromancer and dark wizardess was the closest thing they had to a healer, so she had to grin and bare it. Or well… scowl and bear it.

“I’ll tend to Nevron and Samas in a bit, but since their injuries are minor, and you’re obviously my favorite, they can wait,” Zola said. She shamelessly played favorites and she was rarely called out for it. No matter how talkative she as, she was just as vindictive.

“And I’ve sent for your daughter,” Zola added. “She should be here any minute.”

“Good,” Dmitra said.

“Mother,” a cold, calm voice spoke as a girl walked in. She was tall, thin, and pale, greatly resembling Dmitra, only her hair was cropped short into a pixie cut and her bangs hung in her face. She had ruby red eyes and wore a black, silver, and red robe.

“Rika Amakir,” Zola nodded in her direction.

“Is everything alright?” Rika asked, but her voice held no emotion and Dmitra doubted she actually meant what she said.

“A bastard shot me with a crossbow,” Dmitra said curtly.

Rika didn’t look relieved. She didn’t nod, or show any sign of caring. Just like Dmitra had taught her.

“Why did you send for me?” asked Rika.

“Ah yes,” Dmitra said. She sat up, wincing as she did so. “I trust you still have the magizoologist?”

Rika folded her arms, “Why is he of any importance? He's only sixteen, barely a man. He's probably lying about the creatures in his case.”

Dmitra scowled, “Watch your tongue, my daughter. Yaphyll has foreseen that he will be a danger. But she's also foreseen that he will be useful. Perhaps this means you can use him to blackmail the questing party.”

Rika looked thoughtful. “I see your point. Is that all you wanted to see me about?” she asked.

“Yes,” Dmitra said. “Tomorrow, you and Dierro can leave.”

A bit of disgust crossed Rika's face, but she said, “Yes Mother.” Before leaving.

“You know, you've got to admit that even by our standards, Dierro Tam is an asshole.” Zola spoke up.

Dierro Tam was the son of Szass Tam, the lich necromancer. From an early age, Rika was promised to him to keep a strong bloodline. Dmitra had told (read, forced) Rika not to reveal her true feelings about Dierro, or bad things would happen. She had complied.

“It's not a matter of personality,” Dmitra said. “It's a matter of strength of bloodline.”

Zola huffed, but said nothing more.

“Really, Zola, do you expect me to let her find someone she actually  _ loves _ ?” Dmitra snorted.

Zola shrugged. “We villains have children all the time.”

“You really think I loved Cronan?” Dmitra inquired, remembering the lord of Mulmaster, Cronan Amakir. She had briefly married him in order to give the Camp of Witchcraft and Red Wizards power in the Moonsea region. He was also the father of her two children.

“I don't know.” Zola shrugged. “I'm not you.”

“Let me tell you the answer.” Dmitra said. “I. Don't. Care. About him.” She said, enunciating her words.

“Whatever you say, Dmitra.” Zola said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this concludes the special chapter about the teachers. Future chapters should include both the questers and the teachers.


	9. The Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> Lukan Knightwalker, Ak, and Vex are original characters.
> 
> Zoro Blackfire is loosely based off Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. And technically I have based him a bit off the Doctor from Doctor Who, but the first one's a bit more obvious.

Chapter 9: The Escape

 

“ROWAN EVANWOOD?!?!” Romero roared. “ _ THAT'S WHO HE WANTS TO FIND?!?!?!” _

Acheron growled with annoyance and snapped his fingers. Instantly, Romero screamed in pain and fell to his knees, his hands flying to his neck.

“Romero!” Torque instantly appeared at Romero’s side, holding him close.

“Scream a little louder, I don't think the gods in Asgard heard you!” Acheron snapped.

“Was burning his neck necessary?” Levi quipped.

“Yes.” Acheron nodded.

Astryd grinned. “I like this guy.”

Acheron decided Astryd wasn't the worst person ever. She never really attacked him or his friends, most of her jabs were aimed at the other members of the Suicide Squad. Though seeing as she was kept in a cell across from Romero, it was easy to see why she was so annoyed by him. That much time with the guy could drive anyone insane.

“Personally, Rowan Evanwood would be a good addition to the team.” Jackolopieous said as he came over and sat down next to them.

“Anyone who can wield a legendary sword is a good addition to any team.” Said Astryd.

“What sword we talk about?” Torque rumbled. Since he was still new to Common, he sometimes made grammar mistakes.

“The Skofnung Sword.” Levi replied. 

“Careful. If you get stabbed with it, it'll trap your soul inside it.” Romero warned.

“No, there's a certain incantation to do that to a human,” Levi informed.

Astryd snorted. “Okay, Sword Nerd.”

Acheron shook his head before standing up and walking over to wear Miri was sitting. She was sitting cross-legged outside Aroconus's tent. Her clothes were now clean of mud.

“I heard Romero scream.” Miri commented.

“Yep,” Acheron said. “Nearly restarted my headache.” He gently rubbed the back of his head and winced a bit.

“Don't touch it,” Miri said, her hand flying immediately towards Acheron's. She grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away from the injury.

Acheron looked at her hand, now wrapped around his, and blushed bright scarlet. He'd never had a girl hold his hand before.

He coughed awkwardly. “So… how's Aroconus?”

“Lian's tending to him,” Miri replied. Acheron noticed that she didn't let go of his hand. In fact, her other hand was now wrapped around his. He didn't think it would be a good idea to pull away, so he just relaxed. Holding hands was normal, right?

“That's good.” Acheron nodded. He wrapped his free hand around Miri's. Now he saw  _ her _ blush a bright pink. He had to admit, there was a certain playful satisfaction to it.

Lian then came out of the tent. “Okay guys, Aroconus is-,” his eyes drifted towards their interlocked hands. “Am I interrupting?”

“Oh, no, not at all!” Miri squeaked, pulling away. Acheron found that he was actually disappointed when she pulled away.

Acheron cleared his throat. “Anyway, what about Aroconus?”

“He'll live, but that was obvious,” Lian said. “He's just got to rest for a little bit before we continue on our way.”

“Okay,” Acheron nodded. He was relieved that his brother was healing well. “How long will he rest?”

“About half an hour, then he’ll be well enough to continue travelling,” Lian replied.

Acheron and Miri nodded.

 

Half an hour passed by rather quickly and Aroconus was as good as new. Acheron had to admit, Kao Lian was a miracle worker.

“Now, to find Rowan,” said Acheron. As he said so, he caught Romero snarl slightly. 

“My tracking spell tracked her to the Dark Forest, right in front of Blood Crystal Mountains,” Aroconus said.

“Both of those places sound dangerous,” Miri scowled and crossed her arms.

“They are,” Jackolopieous informed.

“Good to know,” Aroconus said sarcastically.

“Therefore, we will go in,” Acheron said.

“Yeah,” Aroconus said.

There was a short moment of silence before Romero said, “That’s it? You all are just going to follow a couple of kids?”

“One of which can make your head explode if you don’t comply,” Acheron threatened. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dusk smirk. He rolled his eyes.

“Into the forest of death walked the Suicide Squad,” Lian muttered. Romero gave him  a side glance and he shrugged, “What? So it’s growing on me.”

“I am going to stab you,” Levi muttered, but even he complied.

They walked into the forest, keeping close together. None of them really knew light magic, but both Harleia and Aroconus made the tips of their wands glow, and Acheron summoned a fireball for extra light.

They walked for a bit until there was a flash of silver and a sword was held to Acheron's throat.

“Whoa!” Aroconus exclaimed.

“Extinguish your fire.” Hissed a low female voice near Acheron's ear. “Extinguish it or face the consequences.”

“Why do you care? Why should I?” Acheron snapped back.

“I want you to extinguish it because it poses a danger to my forest. As for why you should do it, I literally have a sword to your throat.”

“Yeah… I've got no argument.” Acheron grumbled and let the fire all die in his hand.

“Thank you.” The female said curtly.

“Ahem.” Acherin cleared his throat. “Your sword.”

“Right.” The sword was lowered and the figure moved in front of them. She was tall and slim, but also muscular. She had wavy golden blonde hair that stopped at her shoulders and a brown and green mask covered the top half of her face. Her eyes were leaf green. She wore brown and green cloth and leather. She sheathed her sword at her belt.

“Are you Rowan Evanwood?” Aroconus asked.

“Yes.” Said the woman. “What's it to you?”

Acheron hadn't thought about it before, but suddenly the name “Evanwood” seemed sort of familiar to him. He couldn't put his finger on it. Where had he heard it before?

“We have some criminals in need of extra discipline, and a quest to do,” Miri explained.

“It'd be great if you could tag along,” Krista added with a smile.

Rowan looked at them all, “Three mages, three dwarves, the King and Queen of Crime, a fallen captain, a crazy warlock, a drow, a bandit, a half orc, and a fallen paladin.” She assessed. “What an unusual quest group.”

“Should I be insulted by that?” Romero spoke up.

Rowan turned her scowl on him, “It depends on how you take it.” She paused, tilting her head. “How was Scarlet Prison, by the way?”

Romero growled ferociously and tried to charge at her, but was held back by Torque and Astryd.

“It seems that you guys have good control over them,” Rowan said, eyeing Acheron, Aroconus, Miri, Irene, and Krista.

“Yeah, but it's annoying to always make their necks burn when they get out of line.” Acheron said.

“Plus, we’re on a life and death quest here.” Aroconus added. “We need all the help we can get.”

“How serious is this quest?” Rowan asked after a short moment of hesitation.

“Closing the gates of Helheim,” Aroconus replied.

Rowan's eyes seemed to widen before she said, “Very well. I will join you on this quest.”

Romero nearly exploded from anger.

 

“Wait, wait, wait. You're saying you  _ know _ this person?” Cassandra demanded.

“Yes,” Dworgyn said. “Leo Knightwalker and I were part of the team that captured Dusk and Jackolopieous!”

“So he must be strong.” Claire crossed her arms. “Am I wrong?”

“You could say I'm strong,” said the man, Leo.

“Oh gods, you should have seen him when he beat Jackolopieous! Dodging sword strikes, shooting crossbow bolts! And then the time he smacked him with his crossbow.” Dworgyn smiled, thinking back to the times that he had spent with Leo and the others.

“It still has a dent in it,” Leo lamented.

“Let me get this straight. You beat the King of Crime by hitting him on the head with your crossbow?” Cassandra arched an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Leo said.

“Damn. Just damn.” Cassandra blinked.

Claire giggled.

“What are three teachers from the Camp of Magic doing out here?” Leo asked.

“I'm no teacher. I look like a creature.” Claire crossed her arms.

“Why is she rhyming?” Leo asked.

“It's a curse.” Cassandra said.

Leo nodded, and didn't question it farther. “Well, I still want to know what you're doing out here, battling three teachers from the Camp of Witchcraft.”

“We're sort of keeping tabs on a quest group.” Dworgyn replied.

“Keeping them safe. This world can be very unsafe.” Claire added.

“Okay,” said Leo.

“And what about you? Why are you here?” Cassandra asked.

“I live here.” Leo answered.

“Oh, right.” Cassandra said.

“However, sometimes I can appreciate a change of scenery.” Leo continued. “I think I'll tag along with you guys.”

“Great!” Dworgyn said.

 

The doors flew open, light flooding into the dark room. Zoro squeezed his gold eyes shut, temporarily blinded. He opened his eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light.

Rika Amakir stood in front of his cage, arms crossed over her chest. She wore her usual black, red, and silver robes, but she seemed even more annoyed than usual.

Flanking her were two of her minions, a half elf named Vex and a tiefling named Ak. Zoro didn't really know either of them.

“What now?” Zoro sighed. During the previous week, he had been captured by the forces if the Camp of Witchcraft and Rika was trying to get the location of the Camp of Magic out of him.

“I'm rarely at the Camp of Magic!” He had informed them.

Still, they thought he was lying, so they locked him in a cage and had some try to get the “information” out of him.

“You know what I'm here for, Zoro Blackfire.” Rika spat.

“I've already told you that I don't know where it is,” Zoro said.

“And the briefcase?” Rika motioned towards it.

Zoro's eyes immediately travelled to his briefcase, which was laying a few feet away from his cage. He tensed. This was the first time he'd ever been asking about it.

“Oh that?” Zoro said. “You wouldn't want to know.” As he spoke, a plan formulated in his mind. A plan to get out of this godforsaken place.

“I bet some valuable info is in there.” Vex said.

“You may be right.” Ak agreed. “Rika, you should check it.”

“What's in the briefcase, Zoro Blackfire?” Rika demanded again.

Zoro didn't reply this time. Rika pulled out her wand and thrust it at Zoro. Magic force seemed to wrap around his throat and choke him.

After a few long moments, Rika released him. She said, “I’ll just have a look for myself.”

Zoro tried his best to look distressed as she glided over, when really that was all part of his plan.

Ak and Vex watched with anticipation as Rika unlocked the briefcase and opened it…

A blast of light burst out of it, followed by a loud, ear splitting screech. Rika screamed stumbled backwards while her minions knocked themselves out by running into the wall.

Rika's wand flew out of her hand as she fell and rolled over near Zoro's cage. He grabbed it and tapped his shackles with it, unlocking them. He then unlocked the cage door and crawled out the cage. He lunged across the room and grabbed his own wand off a shelf.

Rika slammed the briefcase closed and growled at Zoro, noticing that he was free now, and held her wand.

“What is in that thing?!” She shrieked, breathing heavily.

Zoro smiled sweetly, “Like I said… you wouldn't want to know.”

He snapped Rika's wand in half before grabbing his briefcase and teleporting out of there


	10. The Blood of the Dead

Chapter 10: The Blood of the Dead

 

“Barry, are you sure they were here?” Nexa questioned.

“Yes, I’m sure. This is where my tracking spell puts them,” Barry replied.

“Well tracking isn’t your major so I wouldn’t put too much faith in it,” Nexa said cooly.

“Hey! Rude!” Barry cried indignantly.

“Stop being mean to each other,” Ea looked back at her arguing teammates. “It’s not going to get us anywhere.” She said.

Nexa crossed her arms, “So what do you suggest we do?” she asked, her eyes drifting to the rundown tavern that Barry’s spell had led them to. There was a big hole in the side of the tavern and inside, the walls had scorch marks.

“Youch,” Barry commented as he looked at the burn marks. “Must have been a fire here.”

_ Acheron! _ Ea thought, even if it was a bit of a stretch. Lots of wizards, and monsters, used fire magic. Plus, fires could start from other causes too (though it was unlikely since most fire monsters were major pyromaniacs and arsonists). 

“We’ll just ask some questions,” Ea said. She walked up to a man exiting the tavern, “Excuse me, sir, can you tell me what happened here?”

“A fire,” the man replied.

“We can  _ see _ that. We want to know what caused the fire,” snapped Nexa.

“There were three wizards, plus Dusk Jillian Luzon and Jackolopieous Entreri.”

“Luzon and Entreri?” Barry asked. “As in the King and Queen of Crime?”

“Yes, them two,” the man replied. “Those five fought off a helhound and a helmed horror before running off.”

_ He was here!  _ Ea thought.

“Where did they go?” Nexa asked.

The man shrugged. “Beats me.” Before walking off.

“Well Acheron and the others were here, which means my tracking spell worked,” Barry said.

Nexa sighed. “But we still don’t know where they are.”

Ea looked over at a newspaper stand and saw several familiar faces. She pointed at it, “Hey, look at that.”

Barry gave a coin to the newsboy and opened the paper. Immediately, the headline caught their attention.

 

Mage Uses Criminals From Scarlet Prison to Help Close Gates of Helheim

 

Following the headline was a line of mugshots, labeled with the names and brief description of the criminals they featured:  _ Levi Grace, Harleia Tormentor, Kao Lian, Romero Falone, Torque Feng, Ara Naïlo, Astryd Warpiker _ .

“Well, who’s the mage?” Nexa asked.

Barry tapped another picture. The familiar smirking face of their red haired, copper eyed half elf classmate stared back at them.

_ Acheron Blackfire. _

 

“So we’re finally going to the Midgard Gate,” Dusk said, tossing one of her knives up into the air and catching it by the handle.

“Yep,” Acheron said. “Ugh, why do mountains have to have so much snow?” he complained, lifted his robes up so the ends (which were already damp with melted snow) wouldn’t drag through the snow.

Miri forged ahead. The ice and snow didn’t bother her, in fact, it just made her stronger.

“So does anyone actually know how to close the gates?” Levi asked.

“Yes, I have the spell,” Aroconus snapped at him.

Levi arched an eyebrow, “Oh, do you?”

“I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t let you guys go in without a way to solve the problem we’re trying to solve,” Aroconus said.

“How nice it is to know you care,” Levi said sarcastically.

“Oh, I just meant them,” Aroconus motioned to Miri, Acheron, Irene, Krista, and even Lian. “I could care less about what happened to the rest of you.”

Levi snorted. “Ass.”

“Says the murderer.”

“Why, you little-!”

“Shut up, you guys,” Miri snapped.

Amazingly, they shut up. Miri just figured neither of them wanted another incident. For the next few minutes, they climbed in complete silence. Not even Acheron was speaking. And then they reached the end of the path.

“Why with the big rocks?” Acheron whispered, walking forward. He climbed on top of the two bottom rocks to see above the others. “Whoa.” he breathed.

“What is it?” Miri asked as she climbed up next to him to see what was going on.

There was a rather large plateau, at the end of which a massive portal, bigger than any portal Miri had ever seen before, swirled ominously. She could feel the cold aura of death radiating from it.

“And there’s the death knight,” Aroconus had joined them. He pointed to a dark figure pacing in front of the portal. It was humanoid enough, dressed fully in fine white armor, similar to the set of armor Ara Naïlo had on. A long cape flowed behind it. But when she looked closer, she saw that its hands were barely covered with rotten flesh.

Definitely dead.

The death knight suddenly stopped walking.

Beside her, Acheron tensed, “What’s it doing?”

The death knight turned its head farther than a normal human should have been able to, looking in their general direction. Its face was hidden by its helmet, but instead of eyes, it had two pinpoints of orange light. They sent shivers down the ice sorceress’s spine.

“It senses us,” Levi said darkly. The three mages jumped; they hadn’t even heard him come up next to them. He ignored their surprise and drew his blades, “The fight begins.”

He leaped over the blades in one smooth jump and silently charged at the death knight.

The death knight dodged, the plates of its armor clunking against each other. He pointed one palm at the open portal, and a flash of light momentarily blinded them all. When it faded, a bunch of rotting corpses stumbled out of the portal. There must have been dozens of them.

Miri cringed at the sight of their mangled bodies, “What… What type of zombies are those?”

“They appear to be simple walkers,” Aroconus said. “But since they’re from Helheim, there’s no telling what else they can do. Don’t let them touch you.”

“Avoid their hands, got it,” Levi said, jumping back from a swiping zombie.

“Yeah, yeah,” Harleia said, waving them off. 

“Magic users need to come with me to close the portal,” said Aroconus. “The rest of you, kill those zombies and the death knight!”

“But they’re already dead!” Ara smirked, though Miri suspected she was just trying to annoy Aroconus.

“You know what I mean,” snapped Aroconus. “Let’s go!”

 

Jackolopieous watched Aroconus lead Acheron, Miri and Harleia over to the portal. Levi drove the death knight out of their path and Irene and Krista fended off zombies that tried to go for the magic users.

He caught Dusk’s eye and she smirked, tossing one of her knives into the air and catching it. “Ready to kill some zombies?”

“Yep,” Jackolopieous said.

A zombie tried to swipe at him and he jumped in the air, sailing over the monster in a wide arc, executing a flip as he did so. He turned and tried to swipe at the zombie, but he’d misjudged the zombie’s position and ended up missing entirely.

Nearby, he heard Ara snicker, “Good shot, assassin!”

“Shut up,” Jackolopieous grit his teeth and swiped again, this time landing a hit and slashing through the zombie’s abdomen. As the monster groaned in pain, Dusk jumped down from behind and decapitated it in one clean cut.

She landed gracefully and rolled to one side on her back, her legs in the air and successfully kicking two zombies in the face. Jackolopieous lunged in their direction and skewered both of them from the side with his sword.

Dusk sprang in the air and spun, her blades cutting into several zombies that had jumped up as well. Jackolopieous slid under a zombie between its legs and cut it in half.

Dusk landed like a cat, her right half covered in zombie blood. She looked over her shoulder at Ara and smiled crookedly, “How’s that for a good shot, Naïlo?”

Ara growled before slashing at several zombies with her sword.

Dusk snickered before she looked around. Jackolopieous did so to. A circle of zombies had surrounded them.

“Well,” Jackolopieous declared, raising his sword, “Some things just can’t be helped.”

He and Dusk charged at the zombies, blades whistling.

It was literally a bloodbath. The red liquid sprayed everywhere, dowsing Jackolopieous and Dusk until they looked like they’d been showering in the stuff. The circle of zombies had turned out to be bigger than Jackolopieous had anticipated, and they just kept coming. And he kept killing them. He slashed with his swords until all the zombies that had thought they could take him and Dusk were lying on the ground, so mangled they almost made him feel sorry for doing it.

 

Levi leaped at the death knight, but the undead creature lifted his sword and blocked him. However, Levi sent his second sword to the knight unprotected side and plunged it in between the cracks of its armor as hard as he could.

The death knight screamed in pain, blood leaking out from in between the edges of the armor. When Levi pulled his blade out, it was slick with blood. The knight let out a gurgling noise that might have been a growl and slashed at Levi with his sword. Levi sidestepped to avoid the blade before spin-attacking the knight, managing to loosen the knight’s armor a bit by subtly severing some straps.

The death knight then saw the magic users going towards the portal and letting out a shriek of outrage. It turned towards them and started stumbling in their direction.

Levi cursed under his breath before growling and hefting his swords. With a few graceful strides, he was close enough to swing his sword and completely slice the straps of the monster’s breastplate. The chest armor fell away, leaving its entire torso vulnerable. Levi wasted no time in stabbing it.

Finally, he was getting somewhere.


	11. The Gate Is Closed

Chapter 11: The Gate is Closed

“Do you think someone died yet?” Nexa spoke up.

Ea glared at her, “Nexa!” She threw a bit of cheese at the necromancer.

“Way to set the mood,” Barry muttered, taking a bite of his sandwich. “And besides, can’t you tell if someone’s dead?”

“Sometimes,” Nexa shrugged. “I don’t know those criminals at all, so I can’t tell if they’re dead. But as far as I’m aware, Acheron, Aroconus, and Miri are still alive. And so are Professors Dworgyn and Cassandra.”

Ea nodded, relaxing, “Good to know.”

Suddenly, they heard a rustle. The three tensed, and Nexa whispered, “Someone’s there. Get ready.”

Barry nodded and clenched a fist.

Ea nodded and tensed as the figure emerged from the trees. She had been expecting a monster, but instead, he was a half elf; she could tell by his pointed ears. He had messy blonde hair that had small sticks and leaves stuck in it. He had golden eyes and a scratched up face. His blue and gold suit were tattered and there was a large rip and a bloodstain on one of his pants, implying an attack where his leg got bitten. He was carrying a wand a suitcase.

He waved, “Hi, I’m Zoro Blackfire.”

A wave of shock hit Ea unexpectedly. Looking back at Nexa and Barry, she knew they were just as shocked.  _ Blackfire? _

“Please help me.” Zoro said. Then his legs buckled and he collapsed into a heap.

Ea yelped before jumping to her feet. Barry did the same, but Nexa scowled and crossed her arms, “You believe him? He could be working for the other camp.”

Barry frowned, “I don’t think so, Nexa. Acheron and Aroconus did mention having a brother, and he was doing other work for the Camp of Magic. Not Witchcraft.”

Nexa was about to speak up, but Ea spoke first, “We have to help him, Nexa!”

Nexa scoffed, “Fine.”

Ea and Barry went over to Zoro. They turned him over so that he lay on his back, then they hoisted him over their shoulders, bring them back over to the blanket they were sitting on.

“Alright,” Barry said between pants. “Does anyone know first aid?”

There was a few moments of silence, before Nexa said, “Looks like we’ll just have to do our best to improvise.”

 

Aroconus looked around. Irene, Krista, and the criminals were doing an excellent job of keeping the zombies at bay. All he had to do was teach the closing spell to Acheron, Miri, and… Harleia.

_ This should be fun _ , Aroconus sarcastically thought to himself.

“Here is the spell,” Aroconus opened his spellbook to the page where he'd written down the words:

 

Prope, quiescat, reseal, prope

 

Acheron looked surprised, “The spell is  _ that _ short?”

Aroconus nodded as Miri leaned forward and knit her eyebrows. “What language is this in? What language is this?”

“It's a magic language of the old. Roughly translated, the spell is ‘close, cease, reseal, close.’”

“Neat,” Harleia said. “So we just say the words at the same time and the gate will close?”

“Unfortunately, this won't be that easy,” Aroconus scowled. “Yes, we have to say the spell together, but every one of us needs to put in a lot of magic energy, and we need to keep the spell holding until the gate actually closes.”

“Alright, let's get to it then,” Harleia said, grabbing Aroconus’s hand.

“Uhhh,” Aroconus glanced down at their interlocked hands. “What are you doing?”

“Look, I'm not happy to hold your hand either,” Harleia said, and Aroconus’s scowl deepened. “But of we’re channeling a lot of magic energy but have to be careful about it, we've got to hold. Keeps us from putting too much magic energy into the spell.”

“Wow, I hadn't thought of that,” Aroconus admitted before he grabbed Acheron's hand. “Let's do this.”

Acheron used his free hand to take Miri’s, and Miri and Harleia completed the circle.

Aroconus could already feel their magic energies pulsing with each other. Harleia’s was the strongest, which made sense as she was the most experiences of them there, but hers was also chaotic. Wild. Untamed. Just like Acheron's.

Already, Aroconus could feel Harleia straining to hold back her power so she could be evenly matched with him, Acheron, and Miri.

“Say the spell!” Aroconus yelled to be heard above the roar of the portal.

“ _ Prope, quiescat, reseal, prope!” _

The portal was as open as ever.

“LOUDER! AND SLOWER! AND MORE POWER!” Aroconus shouted.

No one protested. They just concentrated harder. Aroconus did as well until he felt their power double.

“ _ PROPE!” _ They all screamed.

This time, a wave of magic power emanated from them. The Midgard Gate rumbled and started to slowly grow smaller. It was only a little bit, but Aroconus noticed. However, he didn't dare celebrate. They were only on the first word of the spell.

_ “QUIESCAT!” _

Another magic wave pulsed through the air, pushing both zombies and questers alike back. They cried out in surprise, but Aroconus filtered out their shouts. They had a spell to finish.

_ “RESEAL!” _

This was when things went wrong. The portal started rumbling and closing more, but now, arcs of blue energy traveled up and down Miri's body. She grit her teeth, but then she let out a scream of pain.

Aroconus gasped and Acheron screamed, “MIRI!”

The spell would have failed if Harleia hadn't tightened her grip on Aroconus’s hand and shouted, “FINISH THE SPELL!”

_ “PROPE!” _

They shouted the last word of the spell (even Miri with great difficulty), and an earthquake initiated. Everyone was knocked to the ground except the four of them.

The portal started closing at a steady and faster rate. Miri fell to her knees, screaming in pain, but she didn't break the circle.

The portal kept rumbling and closing. There was a lot of screaming. Some zombies still tried to go through the portal, but a magic force held them back, preventing them doing anything but pound on the invisible wall.

Finally, after was seemed like forever, the Midgard Portal snapped shut, leaving only the slab of rock that was it's sealed form.

Aroconus let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. A sudden pain shot up his body and he gripped his abdomen, groaning.

Miri collapsed on the ground, crying in pain, and Acheron went to her side. He grit his teeth, showing that he was in pain as well, but not as much as her.

“Aroconus! Help!” He cried.

Aroconus nodded numbly and went next to them.

Harleia also looked to be in pain, but she was still standing, observing the surrounding area. “We still need to kill the other zombies that came through the portal.”

“I… I can't. I have work here.” Aroconus said.

“I didn't ask you,” Harleia said with a shrug. “I'm going to do it myself.” she waved her wand and a silvery whip exploded from the tip, flying out and decapitating the nearest zombie.

Aroconus breathed a small sigh of relief, but the danger was not over yet.

He turned back. Acheron was on his knees, gently cradling Miri’s limp, unconscious body. “What wrong with her?!” He sounded on the verge of panic.

“Stay calm, Acheron,” Aroconus ordered.

“ _ HOW CAN I STAY CALM?!? _ ” Acheron shouted. He breathed heavily before he whispered, “I'm scared, Aroconus. I'm scared she'll die…”

“Don't be,” Aroconus said firmly. “She's going to live. I'll make sure of it.”

He kneeled by Miri’s side and spread his hands above her. They glowed green, and he began to heal her.

“What do you think caused this?” Acheron asked.

“We must have put in too much magic energy,” Aroconus replied, watching the arcs of blue energy become smaller. “The strain is causing us pain… all of us.”

“But Miri put in too much?” Acheron asked.

“Way too much,” Aroconus agreed. “Not properly treated, this could be fatal, but she's being properly treated,” he added, seeing Acheron's panicked expression return.

After a few minutes, Aroconus said, “Done. When she'll wake up, she'll be as good as new.”

“Thank the gods.” Acheron breathed.

Suddenly, a zombie appeared in front of them. Acheron and Aroconus tensed, and Aroconus heard the crackling of a fireball.

The zombie lunged, but it was suddenly hit in the gut with a circular object. The zombie broke into several parts, and the object nestled at Aroconus’s feet. With a jolt of horror, he noticed that it was a severed head.

“HOLY FRICKING AGGGGHHHH!!!” Aroconus shouted, kicking it away. Acheron grabbed him protectively by the shoulders and pulled him back towards him.

Levi came ambling over, cleaning blood off his swords. He noticed their expressions, then the head. “Oh, I threw that after I decapitated the death knight.” He tilted his head. “You've never seen a severed head before?”

“Not-Not in real life,” Aroconus replied.

Levi arched an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

All around them, the rest of the questing party were finishing off the zombies. There weren’t that many left to kill, and after a mere two minutes, Irene raised her bloody axe to the sky and yelled, “THEY’RE ALL DEAD!”

“PERFECT!” Acheron shouted back at her, and the dwarf gave him a thumbs up.

Aroconus sighed before saying, “Alright, anyone who needs healing, come over here.”

The Suicide Squad plus Rowan and the dwarfs came and formed a messy clump. Aroconus called, “Form a line! Orderly fashion, people!” Once they did so, he began the healing.

He healed Harleia’s stabbing jolts of pain from closing the gate, a large gash in Levi’s leg from the fight against the death knight, a dislocated shoulder from Ara, and countless others. Dusk and Jackolopieous walked by, completely covered in blood.

“Erm, guys?” Aroconus motioned to the blood covering them.

Jackolopieous said, “Not our blood.” And they moved.

“Okay then,” Aroconus said as he finished healing Irene’s arm, the last injury. He then sat up, “I think I’m about to pass out.” He announced.

And then he passed out.

 

Zoro felt a stab of pain in his head as he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was sunlight… and a face in his face.

Zoro sat up and screamed. The figure screamed as well before punching him in the face. “Ow!” he cried, rubbing his nose and shooting a short glare at the girl who’d punched him.

“Sorry!” the girl said with a wince.

A boy with dirty blonde hair facepalmed, saying, “Ea! Why would you do that?”

“I’m sorry! I panicked,” said the girl, Ea. Studying her, Zoro saw that she was clearly a tiefling, with her pale pink skin and small horns. She also had gold eyes and strange hair: crimson rimmed with purple, shaped almost like flames.

“Hey, you’re not dead,” said a deathly pale girl with black hair and eyes. It took a few seconds for Zoro to realize she was talking to him. He quickly said, “Yeah, yeah. I’m alive.”

“Zoro Blackfire, was it?” the girl continued.

“Yes,” Zoro replied.

“I’m Nexa Surge,” she said. “This is Barry Starsplitter and Ea Art.” 

Zoro nodded as Ea waved, “Thanks… Thanks for helping me.”  He said.

“It’s no problem,” Barry said. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what were you running from?”

“Oh yeah,” Zoro said, memories flooding back to him. Escaping the Camp of Witchcraft, running through a forest pursued by helhounds, taming one helhound he’d felt had a spark of rebellion against, fighting with it against the other one… Oh gods, the helhound.

Zoro scrambled towards his suitcase, ignoring the pain in his head and Ea’s noise of surprise. He opened the top of his suitcase and reached inside until he felt thick fur and the vague form of a dog. 

“Here, boy!” Zoro called, and immediately the helhound sprung out of the suitcase.

Immediately, Ea made another noise of surprise and Nexa began shouting a spell.

“NO! No spell-shooting!” Zoro shouted.

Nexa froze out of sheer surprise. “ _ What?  _ Zoro, that’s a helhound!”

“I know, but he’s with me! He’s good,” Zoro explained, petting the helhound’s thick black fur.

“Erm…” Barry said.

“This is Mutant,” Zoro said. “I tamed him!”

“And you kept him in a suitcase?” Ea arched an eyebrow.

“Technically yes,” Zoro admitted. “But the suitcase is magic. It’s basically a pocket dimension where I keep all my creatures.”

“ _ All _ your creatures?” Nexa replied. “You have more?”

“Of course!” Zoro said. “I’m a magizoologist.”

The three stared at him in disbelief, and he quickly explained, “I know I’m young, but before he disappeared, the old magizoologist trusted me with his creatures and research. I’d just been on an errand to get food for them when the Camp of Witchcraft nabbed us all. I just escaped.”

“I’d heard the magizoologist and his apprentice went missing,” Barry said. “But i never expected it to be you, Acheron and Aroconus’s little brother.”

Zoro brightened at the mention of his brother, “Oh, you know Acheron?” Then it dawned on to him, “Ohh, you must be his other classmates!”

“We are,” Nexa said with a nod. She then added, “How old are you?”

“I’m sixteen,” Zoro replied. “It’s young to be a magizoologist, but I expected to be an apprentice for at least five more years.” He shrugged. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go back to the Camp of Magic.” Then he froze, “Wait, why are you all not at the Camp of Magic?”

“We’re… actually playing back up for a quest,” Barry said. “Acheron, Aroconus, and our last classmate Miri La’arnie are one a quest to close the Gates of Helheim.”

Zoro’s eyes widened, and mentally he cursed his brothers.  _ Ach, Aro, what the hell did you get yourselves into this time?!  _ Out loud, however, he said, “Well then, fire up your tracking spells. We’re going to find them


	12. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAUTION: This chapter contains underage drinking and a naked dude dancing on a table.

****Chapter 12: Aftermath

 

“If this is how long it takes to close one Gate of Helheim, I'm estimating we're going to be closing them until we have dentures,” Acheron muttered.

“Not necessarily,” Irene pointed out. “We have everyone we need, fighters, mages. It'll probably make the next Gates even easier.”

“But we still don't have enough mages,” Acheron pointed out. “You saw what happened to us… and to Miri.” 

“Yeah, kid,” Irene's gaze became almost sympathetic. “You can't have everything.”

“I guess not,” Acheron agreed, taking a sip of strawberry juice.

Irene looked over at his cup, “Boy, what are you drinkin’?” 

“Uhm… strawberry juice,” Acheron replied, confused. “Why?”

“You can't drink that!” Irene exclaimed, aghast. “You're an adventurer now, boyo. And you deserve a good mug of mead.”

“But… mead’s an alcoholic drink. I'm only eighteen,” Acheron pointed out. “I can't drink at the Camp of Magic until I'm twenty one.”

The dwarf grinned. “Only at the Camp of Magic, boyo. Here, as long as you look over ten and pay good enough coin, they won't even ask for your age.” she chugged the rest of her mead and then shouted, “Two more meads over here, barkeep!”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Krista asked as she came over to them.

“Of course, sister!” Irene chirped as two large mugs of mead were placed in front of her. “It's a celebration!”

Krista shrugged but still looked concerned as she walked off to another spot in the tavern.

“Now be careful for your first time,” Irene said. “If you don't know your limit, that can happen.” She motioned to a man who was breakdancing on a table in nothing but his birthday suit.

“If only he had a pole,” Acheron snorted.

Irene snorted with laughter as well, before motioning to another man who was puking his entire stomach out. “Or that can happen.”

“Ergh,” Acheron cringed, immediately turning away before the sheer sight and smell made him hurl too.

“Yeah, some folks just can't hold their alcohol,” Irene said. “But I'm sure you'll be fine. Hopefully. You seem like a strong boy. No, you are a strong boy.”

Acheron picked up the mug to hide his blushing face. “Well, here goes nothing. Three, two, one.” And he took a sip.

The mead tasted mostly of honey, with a hint of the taste he'd always imagined alcohol had.

“Hmm, not bad,” Acheron said.

“That’s the spirit!” Irene roared, slapping him on the back.

Acheron coughed slightly from the force, taking another swig of mead. The original bitter alcoholic taste was beginning to fade with each taste. He found that he was actually starting to enjoy the mead.

“Well, let’s celebrate,” he shrugged, and drowned the rest of the cup.

 

The next thing he knew, it was the next morning and Aroconus was treating his horrible headache.

“I expected the Suicide Squad to get hangovers. I did not expect you to get a hangover,” Aroconus said sharply.

“There’s no legal drinking age out here,” Acheron grumbled.

“And you think that’s a good excuse?” Aroconus arched an eyebrow. He scoffed, “I’d let you suffer, but we need everyone in top shape. We’re going to the Nidavellir today.”

“Oh yeah. Another Gate to close,” Acheron spoke. “I’d almost forgotten about the quest on impending doom,” he said dryly.

“With your careless drinking, I’d almost thought you did,” Aroconus said just as dryly.

Jackolopieous walked by, drinking a glass of milk, “Are we ready?”

Aroconus nodded, “Yeah. And where’d you get the milk?”

“My cow,” Jackolopieous answered earnestly.

“You have a cow?” Levi asked as he came over, eyebrow raised in disbelief.

“Yup. Her name is Smirk,” Jackolopieous said. “Right now she’s in a pocket dimension. She makes the best milk ever.” He downed his glass before walking off.

Levi scoffed, “Crazy bloke.” 

“Where’s everyone?” Acheron asked as he stood up.

“Outside,” Aroconus replied as the three of them followed Jackolopieous outside.

When they exited, Acheron saw everyone gathered around outside. He did a quick headcount: Aroconus, Miri, Dusk, Jackolopieous, Irene, Krista, Levi, Harleia, Lian, Rowan, Romero, Torque, Ara, Astryd. Including himself, that was fifteen people. Rather big for a quest party, but he doubted three or five people could fight off zombie armies.

“Today, we go through the World Tree to Nidavellir,” Aroconus said. “So that begs the question: Who here knows how to travel through the World Tree?”

No one answered. Then Harleia said, “I do.”

“Someone who’s not a psychopath,” Aroconus crossed his arms.

Harleia scowled at him, “I’m the only one here who jumps worlds, genius.”

“I assume it’s easy for you since you’re wanted in about five different worlds,” Aroconus scoffed.

“It ain’t easy being popular,” Harleia fluffed her ponytails. “Bottom line is, I’m the only one who's ever set foot in the real Yggdrasil. And without me, you’re stranded in Midgard.”

“Fine, fine,” Aroconus snapped. “Show us the way.”

“Brilliant!” Harleia chirped. “Follow me!”

 

“So they’ve closed the first Gate,” Dworgyn said, reading the headline of a newspaper.

“It appears so. And they’ve conquered many a foe,” Claire agreed.

“But how? They’re just children,” Leo said. “They couldn’t possibly be strong enough to close a Gate that was almost fully open.”

“Harleia Tormentor must have pitched in,” Cassandra said.

Leo snorted. “How funny. Wasn’t she one of the best students at the Camp of Witchcraft? Powerful and ruthless, heartless and bad to the bone?”

“Yes,” Dworgyn said.

“So why is she helping them?” Leo asked.

“Because Acheron put a bomb in her neck,” Dworgyn replied.

Leo arched his eyebrows, “Well, that’s one way to control a criminal.”

“I just hope they’re safe,” Cassandra said.

 

“They closed the Midgard Gate,” Zoro said as he read the top of the newspaper.

“And my tracking spell puts them heading towards the World Tree,” Barry said.

Suddenly, a small ball of fire erupted beside Zoro and morphed into a fire elemental.

Barry, Nexa, and Ea didn’t have a very strong reaction to this. Zoro had shown them some of his more rare animals, so nothing really surprised them anymore.

“What did you find out, Fireball?” Zoro asked.

Fireball the Fire Elemental (which wasn’t its real name, just a simplified version used by Zoro) replied in Ignan, the primordial language of fire. Zoro didn’t know it well enough to translate the entire thing, but he caught the words, Camp, Witchcraft, ambush, Nidavellir, Gate.

“Holy crab nuggets,” Zoro said. “They’re going to ambush Acheron and the others in Nidavellir?”

This caught the others’ attentions.

Fireball nodded.

“Okay, thanks,” Zoro tried to hide the panic in his voice, but failed miserably.  He opened his suitcase and let Fireball jump inside before closing it after him. He turned back to the others. “Guys, we have to go to Nidavellir  _ now _ .”

 

“Are you sure we're in the right place?” Aroconus asked, doubt lacing his voice.

Harleia cast him a glare before looking at the giant pine tree before them. Other than being very, very huge, it didn’t look like anything special. “Yes, this is the World Tree. Or at least, its mortal anchor.”

“How do we use it?” Miri asked.

“We’ve got to temporarily dispel the cloaking spell that hides the portal into Yggdrasil,” Harleia explained. Everyone stared at her, and Acheron coughed into his fist. She rolled her eyes, “We’ve got to open the portal into the World Tree.”

A chorus of “ohhh’s” resonated from the group.  _ Simpletons, _ Harleia thought before saying, “Mages, we’re up again.”

Acheron, Aroconus, and Miri walked forward. Surprisingly, Dusk followed.

Miri turned to her and arched an eyebrow, “Um, Dusk? You’re not a mage.”

“I’m not,” Dusk agreed. “But I have magic, and I’ve done this before. Besides, if you have trouble closing one portal, imagine the help you’re going to need to open one.” She smirked condescendingly.

“You’d be telling a different story if you’d actually helped us close the other one,” Aroconus said coldly.

Acheron took a different approach. He summoned a fireball and moved as if to throw it at Dusk, but the woman summoned an orb of blue magic and threw it at the fireball. The fireball instantly extinguished.

“It’s called Wave. It nullifies magic and dispels attacks,” Dusk said, summoning the orb back to her and dismissing it. “Now let’s open that portal. The Nidavellir Gate isn’t going to close itself.”

Harleia scoffed, “Just be sure to keep up with me, amateur.” She said, before putting one hand on the trunk. Dusk did the same, and the teens soon followed. “Now concentrate on opening the portal.”

Then Harleia got to work, thinking of opening the portal into the World Tree. She hadn’t done it in a while, but with the combined power of Dusk and the mages, the portal opened easily. The trunk rumbled and split, and it glowed blue from inside.

“It worked,” said Lian.

Harleia shrugged and smirked, “Why the surprise?”

“Everyone, go inside before it closes,” Dusk ordered.

“See you on the other side,” Acheron waved before going into the portal.

“Does he ever think before he acts?” Miri muttered.

“I don’t think so,” Aroconus replied. The two shook their heads before going into the portal.

Harleia shrugged again, turning to the Suicide Squad, “Let’s go, guys.” Then she turned and jumped into the portal.


	13. The Hands of Murderers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains death and blood and the description of a person being shot through the head and then zombies eating the remains. You have been warned.
> 
> I own Dierro Tam but not Szass Tam, and I don't own crawling claws. Both of those are owned by Dungeons and Dragons.

Chapter 13: The Hands of Murderers

 

Acheron screamed as he freefell through the World Tree dimension, hitting branches and narrowly missing portals to Shadowfell. Somewhere beside him, he heard Aroconus scream, “THAT WITCH! SHE TRICKED US!”

“No, this is the World Tree! There’s a giant tree trunk right there!” Miri shouted.

The World Tree was very large, so large that Acheron couldn’t process it all. The smallest branches were about as big as an average redwood tree. He didn’t even want to focus on a big branch.

“This sometimes happens,” Harleia was falling next to them, her blue hair flying everywhere and accidentally hitting Aroconus in the face. “The portal will drop you into empty space instead of a branch.”

“YOU COULD HAVE WARNED US FIRST!” Acheron screamed.

“It’s fine, just find a small portal. That’ll be the one to Nidavellir,” Jackolopieous said. He was falling as straight as a pencil.

“Wow, it’s so easy to find a tiny portal while FREE FALLING through a DIMENSION full of PORTALS!” Acheron screamed sarcastically.

“Calm down, then it will be easy to find it,” said Rowan. She was falling cross-legged and calmly. How could someone fall calmly??

“Look over there!” Romero pointed. “A small portal.”

“That’s it!” Krista grinned. “Fall towards the small portal!”

Acheron was the first to reach it. He fell through the vortex and was spunu several times before falling onto the ground. He felt some limbs crack and his legs hurt intensely. He yelled in pain.

Aroconus fell out next, flailing his arms and landing in the soft grass. Miri followed suit, bouncing off Aroconus and landing next to Acheron.

Dusk and Jackolopieous came out more gracefully, running through the air until they landed on the ground. Rowan landed in her sitting position and Levi landed in a kneeling position and punched the ground.

“Ow. Why did I punch the ground?” Levi muttered, standing up and rubbing his knuckles. Harleia promptly fell on top of him, knocking him back to the ground. “Oh bloody hell,” Levi growled.

Romero landed gracefully as well, followed by Torque who crashed into the ground so hard he left a crater. Once he’d gotten up, Lian and Ara fell into the crater. Lastly, Irene, Krista, and Astryd fell into a pile.

Miri got up and looked at Acheron. She cringed, “Ow. Oh my gods. Are you okay?”

“No,” was all Acheron managed to say. He had landed in a perfect split, but now he couldn’t get up.

“Wow, you’re like an old man. You’ve fallen and you can’t get up,” Harleia noted. She was chilling on top of Levi’s back. Levi looked less relaxed as he laid on his stomach, but he was stuck move until Harleia moved.

“Old men don’t fall out of the World Tree and land in splits!” Acheron snarled.

“Let me take a look at it. I’ll fix you up,” Aroconus said, walking over and starting up his magic. Several minutes later, Acheron was able to move his legs properly and get up.

“So,” Acheron planted his fists on his hips and looked around, “This is Nidavellir.” 

Nidavellir didn’t looked that much different from Midgard, except the sky was covered by yellow and brown clouds. “No visible sky?” Acheron questioned.

“No, there’s actually no sky,” Astryd spoke up. “It’s like a cavern. There’s a dome of rock with stalactites up there. Dwarves don’t like sunlight much, so our world doesn’t have much sunlight.”

“Nice,” Lian said. “Drow don’t like sunlight either, and this is pretty good.”

“So, Aroconus, where will the Nidavellir Gate be?” Acheron asked.

“My research puts it somewhere on Mount Motherload, the tallest mountain in Miner’s Peaks,” Aroconus replied.

“Mount  _ Motherload _ ?” Levi chortled. He was now standing up, having literally shaken Harleia off his back. “Motherload of what?”

“Gold. Jewels. Precious metals,” Irene replied.

“Mount Motherload has the most amount of treasure waiting to be mined,” Krista explained. “But all mountains in Miner’s Peaks have ample amounts of loot.”

“‘Cept Mount Hodad,” Irene added. “That one doesn't have squat.”

“Well, it appears whoever named the mountains was not without a sense of humor,” Levi muttered. “So how do we get there?”

“We’ll cut through that town over there, it’s called Mistwick,” Irene said, pointing to a nearby settlement. “The dwarves there are experts at making magic items, and it’s a popular ‘rest stop’ for wizards.”

Aroconus’s ears perked up, “Magic items?”

“I didn’t think we had time for shopping,” Levi crossed his arms.

“I’m going to see if there’s something to help close the Gate,” Aroconus said. “But it can’t hurt to check.” He shrugged.

“You do what you want. I don’t trust magic,” Levi said flatly.

“That’s somehow not surprising,” Acheron muttered as they began walking.

It took a few minutes to reach the gates of Mistwick. Irene and Krista got them an instant pass inside because of their fame as artisans.

“I’m going to take a look at magic items,” Aroconus muttered to Acheron before branching away from the group.

“I’m going to stop by the tavern for a quick drink,” Irene declared.

Astryd arched her eyebrow, “Why are you always drinking?”

“It’s quite fun, actually,” Irene grinned. “C’mon! Join me!” She took Astryd’s hand and dragged the other dwarf away before she could protest. Krista shook her head and followed them, muttering something about supervision.

Someone grabbed Acheron’s wrist. He tensed before hearing Miri’s voice whisper in his ear, “Come on, let’s take a walk away from the group.”

“Okay,” Acheron nodded and let her lead him a little ways away from the group.

“This quest became crazy hectic really fast,” Miri spoke as they walked.

“Yeah,” Acheron agreed. “And you nearly died.”

“Yep…” Miri said. “Aroconus tells me you were very worried about me.”

Acheron’s face felt hot.  _ Damn you Aroconus!!  _ He thought angrily. But out loud, he said, “Yeah… I was worried.”

“But I thought you hated me,” Miri said.

“I don’t!” Acheron didn’t realize how loud he’d spoken until he saw Levi, Harleia, and Lian’s attentions drift towards them. Harleia wiggled her eyebrows, Lian looked mildly interested, and Levi immediately lost interest.

“I don’t,” Acheron repeated, lowering his voice.

“Surprising,” Miri said, clearly unconvinced as she crossed her arms.

“You’d know if I hated you. If I hated you, you’d be upside down and on fire by now,” Acheron declared.

Miri snorted before saying, “I guess it’s easy for us to get on each other’s nerves. Fire and ice, after all. Opposites.”

“Don’t opposites attract?” Harleia called from the street. Acheron’s face heated up even more as he shouted, “Mind your own business!!” Harleia cackled before she walked ahead to bother Rowan.

Miri rolled her eyes before she looked at Acheron, “For the sake of this quest, we should try to put aside our differences.”

Acheron nodded. Dammit, why wouldn’t his face stop feeling like it was on fire?

“Acheron? Are you okay?” He heard Miri asked. He turned to tell her he was fine, but he spotted a creature hiding in the shadows behind her, poised to attack.

“LOOK OUT!” He shouted, grabbing Miri’s arm and pulling her out of the way, just as the creature struck. He threw a fireball at it, illuminating the area. He screamed when he saw what it was.

A hand. A severed hand with a bone sticking out of it, decaying flesh and covered in blood. It wielded a rusty serrated knife.

Miri screamed, “What the hell is that??”

“A severed hand by the looks of it!!” Acheron screamed, half sarcastically. The hand was creepy, it looked dead,  _ and it wasn’t attached to a body _ . The hand tightened its grip around the knife before charging at them again.

The two screamed. Acheron shoved Miri to the ground and was about to follow suit when the edge of the knife cut his shoulder. He yelped more in surprise than pain. But knowing the knife was rusty, he didn’t think he should ignore the cut.

The hand began flying off, out of the alleyway and into the opening.

Levi ran into the alleyway, “What the hell happened here?”

“FLYING SEVERED HAND!” Acheron screamed.

“What’s the matter with that?! Have none of you ever seen a severed body part before?” Levi threw his hands in the air.

Harleia came in next. “Did someone say flying severed hand? I know what it is! Let’s go!” She ran out of the alleyway. Levi rolled his eyes before following. Miri got up and told Acheron, “Thanks.” before the two started running as well.

“What’s happening?” Aroconus ran over to them. Screaming started rising up from various streets.

“I think it’s a crawling claw,” Harleia informed.

Aroconus went a few shades whiter, “You mean as in the severed hand of a dead murderer reanimated by a necromancer?”

Harleia nodded, “Makes you wonder what you can do with the other parts.” Levi looked sick and Harleia shot him a dirty look, “Get your mind out of the gutter, Gracey.”

“We don’t have time to screw around,” Lian joined the group. “We’ve got to find those hands.”

Acheron’s stomach flopped, “Hands…  _ plural _ ?”

Lian nodded gravely and Acheron muttered, “Ohhhhh noooooooo.”

“There’s more of them?!” Miri shrieked.

“Normally I’d make fun of someone being scared, but now I’m starting to fear these abominations,” Levi said, crossing his arms.

“Where are the others?” Acheron asked.

“I sent them to other parts of the town,” Aroconus replied.

“Right, fighting off all the other hands,” Acheron muttered. He suddenly saw someone tap Levi’s shoulder… But there was no one behind the man. Levi arched his eyebrow, “Why are you all staring at me?” But no one could muster up the courage to speak, but Lian awkwardly tapped his own shoulder.

Levi sighed and deadpanned, “It’s on my shoulder, isn't it.”

One hand shot out and clamped over his mouth and another one tried to stab him. He moved out of the way and wrenched the hand off his mouth, “These things are strong for not having bodies!”

The hand with the knife went for another stabbing attempt, but Acheron shot a fireball at it, setting it on fire. The hand went crazy, flying upward. Acheron shot another fire spell that made it explode. Levi stabbed the other hand.

“Argh. Hands everywhere,” Lian growled, drawing his staff and smacking the hands off him. The hands just bounced back, tugging at his hair and clothes. Aroconus summoned a mini tornado that sucked all the hands in and Harleia blasted them to smithereens.

“How many killer hands could one person possibly control?” Miri demanded as she froze a pod of hands coming at her.

“My guess is that there are multiple necromancers controlling them,” Lian replied, roundhouse kicking a rather large hand straight at Levi, who sliced it into perfect halves.

“And my guess is that the people controlling them don’t want us closing the Gates of Helheim,” Aroconus said as he cut through a hand.

“Yeah!” Acheron agreed, before doing a double-take. His brother, with a sword? “Wait, Aroconus, where did you get that sword?”

“I bought it! It’s apparently a magic sword, but the vendor didn’t have time to tell me what it does before the hands attacked,” Aroconus explained as he ducked from one crawling claw. “Guess I’ll have to find out later.”

“How do you even know how to wield that properly?!” Acheron screeched.

“I payed attention during the sword fighting class!”

“HAND!” Miri suddenly shouted. Acheron turned just in time to see a hand flying at him, but it was struck down by ice.

And then no more hands attacked.

“Did we get them all?” Harleia asked.

“All that were in this area I think,” Lian answered.

All around, dwarves gathered around and began clapping, a chorus of “thank you’s” rising up from the crowd.

“What is this?” Levi arched an eyebrow, and Harleia added, “Are they trying to attack us?”

“They’re showing gratitude,” Aroconus cast the two a strange look.

“Gra...Gratitude?” Harleia tilted her head.

“You seriously have no idea of what gratitude is?” Acheron asked.

“No. I was raised to be a villain,” Harleia replied.

“Well I guess you’re a hero now,” Acheron said.

 

Dworgyn tapped his staff against the ground and several zombies clawed their way out of the ground to attack the necromancers.

Dworgyn, Claire, Cassandra, and Leo had moved on to Nidavellir and found a whole cluster of necromancers gathered near the small village of Misthaven. The halfling giggled with glee when he saw the necromancers scream when the zombies grabbed them.

However, he quickly sobered when he saw who the leader of the necromancers was. A tall boy with pure black hair, milky white zombie eyes, and gray skin. He looked like a lich, but at the same time he looked different. He wore a long red robe.

“Dierro Tam,” Dworgyn crossed his arms. “For a second, I thought you were your father, and I  _ almost _ panicked.”

Dierro ground his teeth as another necromancer exclaimed, “They’re from the Camp of Magic.”

“That is true. It is time for you to rue,” Claire said, tossing her red hair back.

“Why are you rhyming?” Dierro arched an eyebrow.

“That’s none of your concern, because now, you and your lackeys will  _ burn _ ,” Claire growled.

Dierro laughed, “Once I get away from these pathetic corpses, I will kill all four of you, then we will finish our crawling claw attack. Then Father won’t have to ambush them!”

“Somehow I doubt Szass Tam will enjoy not getting to kill them himself,” Cassandra scoffed.

“You can’t kill us,” one of the other necromancers sneered. “You’re all too  _ nice _ .”

In the blink of an eye, Leo raised his crossbow and fired. The bolt hit the necromancer square in the chest. Blood poured out of the gaping wound and sputtered out of his mouth as he gargled and choked on the blood before slumping into the zombie’s arms, the weight of his dead body tearing most of the zombie’s arms off.

A girl to the right of Dierro gasped and Dierro went a few shades paler.

Cassandra turned her head away from the dead body, but neither Dworgyn nor Claire were disturbed.

Leo raised his crossbow again, “Hmm, I think I’ll kill you next.” He shot another girl through the head. Blood and a bit of brains sprayed from her head as she fell too. The zombies that used to restrain her gobbled up her brain’s remains. Leo fired again, and again, and again, killing at least five more necromancers. There were only four left, including Dierro.

Dierro didn’t seem bothered by the blood and gore, but now he was concerned he was going to die. Dworgyn smiled, “Prepare to die, Dierro Tam.”

“I don’t think so,” Dierro growled. Behind him, a black portal erupted into existence, dragging Dierro, the three remaining necromancers, and most of Dworgyn’s zombies in with it. Once the four mages were in, the portal snapped shut.

“Dammit,” Leo cursed. “There were four left.”

“You killed seven of them, that seems like enough,” Cassandra said.

“We’ll get the last four eventually,” Dworgyn told them. “But now, we must go find Szass Tam and ambush  _ him _ .”


	14. The Nidavellir Gate

Chapter 14: The Nidavellir Gate

 

After taking care of the crawling claws, the party set out towards Mount Motherload. By late afternoon, they had made it to the foot of the mountain.

“We need to look for a mining path,” Krista instructed.

“Do you  know of any?” Aroconus asked, looking around. All he saw was the rocky slope of the mountain.

“We haven’t been here in a while, so let’s see if we remember,” Irene said, feeling around the rocks. Krista did the same. After a few moments of trying, she stumbled upon the correct rock. The ground rumbled slightly and the ground parted, revealing a path and a ladder to climb down.

“Mining paths hidden by magic? Nice,” Aroconus nodded. 

The group climbed down the ladder and into the path. The mining path was lit by torches, and tracks that held mining carts ran down the sides of either walls.

“We just follow the tracks to the top of the mountain?” Lian asked.

“Precisely,” Krista replied. “And the magic keeps monsters from getting in, so we won’t have to fight anything until we get to the Gate.”

“Great,” Aroconus said.

“Aww,” Acheron groaned.

And so, they began their ascension up to the top of Mount Motherload.

 

“How long will we be waiting?” Cassandra asked, flipping her brown braid over her shoulder.

“As long as it takes for us to spot the ambush party,” Dworgyn replied. He was lying on his stomach, staring out from between the leaves of bushes with his magic eye. Claire stood behind a large tree, conjuring several invisible magic eyes for scouting. Leo was poised high up in a tree, crossbow ready to shoot.

“So we have no idea who’s coming and when,” Cassandra said.

“Exactly,” Dworgyn said. “This is fine.”

Cassandra scoffed.

“Now let’s stay sharp,” Dworgyn ordered.

For a few minutes, they didn’t talk, keeping their eyes on the path. Then they heard a rustle. 

_ Here they come, _ Dworgyn thought to himself, wrapping his hand around his rod.

A boy walked down the path, with wavy blonde hair and dressed in a dark blue and gold suit. He carried a suitcase as he looked around. His eyes widened and he jumped to the side. A crossbow bolt landed in the ground.

Dworgyn leaped out from behind the bushes, waving his staff like a club, “HYAAAAAA!”

The boy screamed, “AAAAAAH PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!”

Dworgyn froze before he attacked the boy. Slowly, he lowered his staff as recognition dawned on to him, “Zoro? Zoro Blackfire?”

He nodded vigorously, “Yes! I’m from the Camp of Magic.”

“Good to see you, son!” Dworgyn chirped.

Leo jumped down from the tree and stuck a perfect landing next to Dworgyn. “Who's this?”

“This is Zoro Blackfire. He's the apprentice of Alric Greenfield, our magizoologist,” Dworgyn explained.

Zoro waved.

“I'm Leo Knightwalker,” said Leo.

“So where's Alric?” Dworgyn questioned. “Is he here too?”

Zoro shifted uneasily. “About that…”

Before he could continue, three more figures walked over. A young tiefling girl asked, “Zoro, did you find someon-,” her golden gaze fell on Dworgyn. “Oh shit.” She muttered.

“Hi Professor Tearm…” waved a dirty blonde haired boy.

“Just our luck,” muttered a girl with black hair.

Cassandra came over and raised her eyebrows, “Aren't you cabin mates of the questers.”

“They are,” Dworgyn nodded and crossed his arms, “Ea Art, Barry Starsplitter, and Nexa Surge.”

“What are you all doing out here? I'm not a mind reader, just a seer,” Claire came over to them.

The teens, except for Zoro, all looked surprised. “Who… who are you?” Barry sputtered.

“Her name's Claire Voyanté, and she's the oracle,” Zoro replied.

Claire nodded in agreement.

“Now, I believe she asked you a question,” Cassandra said, narrowing her eyes. “What are you all doing out here.”

“I was captured by the Camp of Witchcraft,” Zoro spoke.

“We overheard you talking and were worried about our classmates so we decided to sorta tag along,” Ea explained.

“Then we ran into Zoro running away from the Camp of Witchcraft,” Barry added.

“And then the fire elemental told me about an ambush that was being planned, so we came to stop it,” Zoro finished.

“You could be killed! It was not willed,” Claire exclaimed.

“Well now that they’re here with us, they’re not in so much danger,” Dworgyn said.

Cassandra gave Dworgyn a sideways glance, “Are you suggesting we put these children in outright danger?”

“You’re fine with sending Acheron, his brother, and his girlfriend, but you draw the line at their classmates?” Dworgyn arched an eyebrow.

“Ea and Zoro are just children!” Cassandra said.

Zoro frowned, “Hey! I’m sixteen, not six, and Professor Greenfield trusted me with his creatures.”

“He has a point, Cass. Alric doesn’t trust just anyone with his creatures,” Dworgyn pointed out, then turned to Zoro, “Now that we’re back on the subject, where is Alric?”

Zoro sighed, “Back at the Camp of Witchcraft.”

_ “What?? _ ” Claire squawked.

“He and I were separated when they first got us! I didn’t see him at all, except for when he slipped me the case full of creatures, which helped me escape,” Zoro explained. “And then… you know the rest.”

“Well, looks like saving Alric is next on the list for us,” Cassandra said.

“What about us?” Nexa asked.

“You guys will join your classmates and their little band of criminals,” Dworgyn instructed. “They could use some friendly and powerful faces. But let’s focus on stopping the ambush. Everyone, back into position!”

Cassandra and Claire hid behind their trees again, and Leo climbed back up to his perch in the trees.

“Okay, Blackfire, can you climb a tree?” Dworgyn asked. Zoro nodded, and he continued, “Scale the tree opposite of Leo’s on the other side of the path, on my signal, release a creature that can fly and attack.”

Zoro nodded and obeyed.

“Surge, crouch in the bushes around Blackfire’s tree, and on my signal, raise the dead.”

Nexa did so, and Dworgyn gave his last instruction, “Starsplitter, make some more magic eyes.”

“Yes sir,” Barry said and walked off to hide while doing his job.

“Perfect,” Dworgyn said to himself as he re-hid himself within the bushes.

The bushes rustled once again, and Dworgyn saw the hem of a crimson satin robe.  _ Dmitra. _ He grinned to himself as he lifted his staff and screamed a battlecry, waving the magic instrument and whacking Dmitra on the head.

Dmitra fell, growling in pain. “DWORGYN!” She screeched, clawing at nearby tree branches to help herself stand up. She was flanked by two people again, but this time they weren’t Nevron or Samas.

One was a short and pale woman with long black hair in a deliberately messy updo, light gray eyes, full lips painted glossy black, and silver studs and hoops gleaming in various spots on her ears, through one nostril, and around one eyebrow. She wore pure black robes.

The other was a young man, younger than Dmitra and the goth lady. He had full caramel hair sweeping into his blue-green eyes, and his smile, while charming, had a hint of deviousness to it.

“Zola Sethrakt. Laszlo Dearborn,” Dworgyn said.

“Do you recognize  _ everyone _ from the Camp of Witchcraft?” Dmitra grumbled.

“Pretty much, yes. I’m very old. I’ve seen you all,” Dworgyn replied.

“If you’re old, it’ll be even easier to kill you,” Laszlo declared in a voice like silk, rubbing his hands together.

“Unfortunately for you, I’m a very experienced wizard. You could live another score and never be able to hold a candle to me,” Dworgyn said smoothly. “But I’m not alone.”

A screech sounded and a scaly winged creature descended from the skies, Zoro riding on it’s back. All around the three Camp of Witchcraft teachers, zombies rose and began clawing at them.

Laszlo jumped away from the claws of one zombie, “Disgusting!” He cried.

The pterodactyl swooped down and tried to snap Zola’s head off. Zola ducked and growled, “Foul creature!”

“That’s only the students,” Dworgyn declared.

Dmitra blanched, “ _ Students _ ?”

Cassandra jumped out from behind a tree and thrust her arm out at Dmitra. A wave of magic hit the woman and sent her flying. She growled and charged at Cassandra, but the other woman easily dodged every strike, easily using her powers to anticipate Dmitra’s next move.

Zoro and his pterodactyl forced Zola to run to avoid getting eaten, which backed her into a magic corner Barry had made. The wizard conjured two more walls to completely close Zola in. The two boys high fived as the woman growled and pounded on the walls.

Ea shot a blast of fire at Laszlo’s head, setting the tips of his hair on fire. He screamed a very feminine scream and hurriedly patted his head to snuff out the flames. He didn’t notice Dworgyn charging at him until it was too late- the halfling tackled him and pinned him to the ground, forcing him into a chokehold.

All while they did this, Leo helped by shooting crossbow bolts at the enemies.

Ea giggled, “Did you really think you three would be enough to defeat all of us.”

“In our defense, we only thought we were going to fight a bunch of teenagers.” Zola said.

“You thought wrong. We were too strong,” Claire declared, crossing her arms and staring at the teachers.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Narkar won’t be too happy with you,” Dworgyn shook his head.

“Oh… no…” Laszlo gagged.

Dworgyn released Laszlo and threw the young man down to the ground, where he coughed, trying to catch his breath.

“We still have the leverage,” Dmitra said, wiping blood away from her mouth.

“What leverage?” Cassandra shot back.

“Alric Greenfield,” Dmitra said. Her lips curled into a smirk as silence fell upon the Camp of Magic teachers.

“You let us go, or we’ll have Alric executed right this very second,” Zola sniped.

“Impossible,” Claire shook her head.

“You can’t even talk to them from here,” Dworgyn said.

“Oh, but I can. I’m telepathically bonded to Narkar,” Dmitra pushed her sleeve back to reveal a glowing line around her wrist. “Just one thought, and he’ll send Alric to Aznar just like that.” She snapped her fingers.

Zoro paled, “No…”

Nexa glared at the three.

“Let us go,” Dmitra said. “Or your friend will die.”

Dworgyn grit his teeth. Cassandra glanced at him, “Dworgyn?”

“What is your choice? Either way, we won’t rejoice,” Claire spoke.

Dworgyn sighed, “Let them go.”

Barry yelped, “But-,”

“We can’t let Alric die,” Dworgyn snapped, before turning his glare onto the three, “Try anything against the students, or Claire, Cassandra, or Leo… I’ll strike you dead myself.”

“You can’t possibly know how to do that,” Laszlo spat.

“When will you kids learn? I’m over 8 centuries old, using Power Word Kill won’t even wind me,” Dworgyn scoffed. At the mention of this spell, Laszlo blanched.

“Begone, now,” Dworgyn waved them off.

The three gave him one last glare before dissolving into shadows.

“Phew,” Dworgyn breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the four teenagers, “Alright, you three go ahead to help the questers. Thanks for your help here.”

“You’re welcome,” Zoro smiled before the four ventured off down the path.

“Wait,” Cassandra said once they’d left. “Wasn’t Szass Tam supposed to be here? It’s strange he didn’t come.”

“Cass, you just jinxed us,” Claire groaned. “Insert cuss.”

And sure enough, the lich materialized right in front of them.

 

“That exit should lead us right to the gate,” Aroconus pointed to a set of doors. They’d made it to the top of Mount Motherload.

“Perfect. We can fight the guardian and the zombies, then be on our merry way,” Irene said.

“Is there anyway to open the door just slightly, so we can see what we're up against?” Aroconus asked.

Krista nodded. “There should be.” She walked over to a lever in the wall and pulled it down only a quarter of the way. The hidden door did the same, but Aroconus could see clearly through it.

“What do you see?” Lian questioned.

“The blue portal,” Aroconus replied, seeing the swirling vortex spilling blue light over the caldera. He squinted and saw tiny figures pacing in front of it. “And some tiny figures.”

“Let me see,” Lian requested. Aroconus moved over and the drow looked outside. “Goblins.” He announced. “Regular goblins.”

Levi snorted, “At least the death knight was a bit of a challenge.”

“There's about twenty goblins we need to fight in edition to the zombies that will come out of the portal.” Lian turned to give Levi a glare.

“Alright. Then you fight the goblins. I won’t waste my time on such lesser creatures,” Levi sniffed disdainfully.

“Very well,” Lian said calmly. “And magic users will close the portal?” When Aroconus nodded, he added, “The rest of you will fight the zombies.”

“Alright, let's be quick about this,” Lian declared. He drew his staff and charged.

He caught the first few goblins off guard. The next few ran to attack, but the drow nimbly dodged their attacks while dishing out damage.

“Magic users, let's go!” Aroconus called. He ran out into the open, followed by Acheron, Miri, and Harleia. The others brought up the rear, running at the zombies who were now coming out of the portal. 

“We remember the spell, right?” Aroconus questioned once they'd gotten there.

They all nodded and Harleia said, “Quickly! Join hands.”

As they joined hands, a voice called out, “Wait!” 

Four figures ran at them. Aroconus turned to see them: a blonde boy in a suit, a tiefling girl, a girl in black, and a dirty blonde boy.

“What are you guys doing here? And you, Zoro?? You're here too?” Aroconus cried.

“Wait, Zoro's here??” Acheron yelped as he turned to face their younger brother.

“No time to explain! I taught them the closing spell. You need all the help you can get!” Zoro exclaimed, setting down his briefcase before he, Ea, Barry, and Nexa joined the circle.

They recited the first part of the spell, and the portal started knitting closed. With four other magic users helping, the energy was under control, and the portal closed smoothly. In almost the blink of an eye, they'd finished the spell and the portal closed.

Zoro grinned, “See? Us being here helped so much. I heard you had quite the trouble with the Midgard Gate.”

“But why, Zoro? Why are you here?” Acheron demanded. “You're supposed to be at the Camp of Magic,  _ away _ from danger.”

“Well danger came to me,” Zoro shot back defensively. “The Camp of Witchcraft kidnapped me and Alric, and I barely escaped. Alric's still in there.”

Acheron fell silent. Aroconus spoke, “How are you all here?”

“We heard Professors Tearm and Truth talking about making sure you guys were safe. So we did the same,” Nexa said.

“They're around here too, but they're taking care of some ambushes,” Barry said.

“Guys, we should probably talk later,” Miri said, pointing to the hordes of zombies that almost overtook the Suicide Squad.

Nexa slammed her foot onto the ground. The earth started quaking, knocking everyone to the ground. The ground split and sucked every last zombie limb inside before it snapped shut.

“There you go.” Nexa said. “Now, we can talk.”


	15. The Elves of Wisteria Mountain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed last week!  
> As far as I know, I own my version of mountain elves.  
> Gabrielle, Leandre, Aveline, and Narcisse are original characters.  
> If Nymor is mentioned in this chapter, I believe I don't own the name, that belongs to Wizards of the Coast.

Chapter 15: The Elves of Wisteria Mountain

 

Acheron sat cross-legged as he and his companions listened to Zoro, Ea, Barry, and Nexa recount their story. Zoro had kindly provided them with a lunch of sandwiches. He reassured them that they weren't poisoned, but cryptically refused to reveal where he obtained them.

Even the Suicide Squad was listening to them. When they finished, all Acheron could say was, “Wow.”

“So is Professor Greenfield going to be okay?” Aroconus asked.

“Hopefully. Dworgyn, Claire, and Professor Truth are going to go save him,” Zoro replied.

“And we’re here to help you,” Barry added.

“Perfect. More children,” Levi grumbled.

“I literally saved your asses from being zombie chow,” Nexa snapped.

“Don’t zombies eat brains?” Romero questioned.

“Some do, but these particular zombies will settle for any part of the human body,” Nexa informed icily.

Beside him, Aroconus looked disturbed.

“This isn’t anything to halt the quest for,” Rowan said. “We must continue on to Alfheim.”

As soon as she mentioned the elf world, Acheron's mood plunged downward. He saw a shadow cross Aroconus's face, and some sweat beaded on Zoro's forehead.

“Whoa,” Dusk said. “They don't like Alfheim apparently.”

“You okay, guys?” Krista asked.

“We  _ really _ don't like Alfheim,” Zoro said.

“Why?” Dusk arched her eyebrow.

“Wow, insensitive much?” Irene grumbled.

Dusk's eyes flashed as she turned to Irene, “You-,”

She never got to finish her sentence. A sword whizzed past her, severing a small lock of her hair before settling in the trunk of a nearby tree. Levi marched in between her and the dwarf to retrieve his sword.

“Proceed,” he nodded at the brothers.

This was probably the first civil thing he'd done, and it involved throwing a sword at someone else. Acheron refrained from rolling his eyes before he said, “So we're half elves, right? Our human mother had a relationship with some sun elf noble in Sunwood. She had me and Aroconus, and he threw us out without warning. Luckily when our mom had Zoro, she went to the Camp of Magic before the elf knew about Zoro.”

“We have no wish to go to Alfheim,” Aroconus said. “But it looks like we're going to have to.”

“The portal shouldn't be anywhere near Sunwood, based on the locations of these last two,” Irene said.

Rowan nodded in agreement. “Yes. It would be somewhere in Wisteria Mountain.”

“Good,” Acheron nodded.

“Day's almost over, but if we move quickly, we'll be able to take care of the Alfheim portal, then take a short day off before moving on to the next world.” Aroconus said.

They all nodded and Rowan clapped her hands together briskly, “Let’s get going, then.”

 

It was late afternoon by time they’d jumped to Alfheim and reached Wisteria Mountain, which according to Aroconus was a large purple mountain that served as home to the mountain elves.

“The mountain elves are chaotic, but they know me, so we should be fine,” Rowan explained as they started climbing the mountain. “In fact, they may even help us.”

“A bunch of wild mountain elves helping us kill zombies? We may actually have the advantage this time,” Levi said.

“As long as no one screws it up,” Rowan said sharply, turning to glare at Romero.

“You have a bone to pick with me, woman?” the man shot back.

“Yes, I do. I feel that out of all of you, you have the highest chance of screwing up.”

“Why don’t you say that to my face, you stupid cunt?”

“I would break your face if we didn’t need all the help we could get.”

“Shut up, you two,” Astryd ordered, her tone hard. “Evanwood, we won’t get in the way of your negotiations. Falone… keep your trap shut.”

Ara giggled at Romero’s dumbfounded face.

Acheron had to admit that having the Suicide Squad wasn’t so bad. Even though they committed crimes, Lian and Astryd were actually pretty chill, Levi, Harleia, and Ara hadn’t tried to kill them. He hadn’t had to use the bomb threat.

“The main encampment is around the middle of the mountain,” Rowan explained. “We should be nearing it soon. After that, we’ll continue on to the plateau where we’ll find the next gate.”

Rowan led them up the mountain path. While they walked, she talked to some of the other Suicide Squad members. Acheron hung back with the other teens.

“Dang, I forgot how hard mountain climbing was,” Zoro rubbed his knees. “I feel like an old man.”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t be climbing in a suit,” Nexa said.

“It’s fine. It’s called formal mountain climbing,” Zoro said.

“Nah, it’s just called being unprepared,” Barry said.

“I like questing in style,” Zoro shrugged. “Besides, I’m wearing pants, unlike him,” he elbows Aroconus.

“Ow! And it’s not a dress, dammit. It’s a robe,” Aroconus crossed his arms.

“Watch your profanity,” Zoro poked his arm in return.

“Well Miri’s actually wearing a dress,” Aroconus said.

“It’s not floor length like yours,” Miri retorted. “Wait, I’m sorry, your  _ robe _ .”

Acheron snorted, “That’s why I burned off the excess cloth on mine.”

“Now it just looks like a shabby knock-off,” Aroconus said, hiding a smile.

“Ah, he bites back,” Acheron said smoothly.

Their playful friendly banter was so normal, it almost made Acheron forget they were on a dangerous quest, climbing a giant purple mountain in a world he’d promised himself he’d never go back to.

 

After a while of climbing, Rowan led them off the path and towards the mountain elf encampment. Acheron saw a thin column of smoke rising up in the distance. “Yep, someone definitely lives there,” he murmured to himself.

They walked until Rowan stopped, just ten feet away from a large circle of tents. A group of elves emerged: some with brown or red hair and light brown skin, some others with an alabaster complexion, or skin the same bright purple as the mountain.

A female elf stepped forward, with purple skin and dark gray hair despite her apparent youth. “Rowan? Hello, I haven’t seen you in a while. What are you doing here?”

“Hey Gabrielle,” Rowan waved casually. “We need your help.”

The other elves exchanged awkward glances as Gabrielle said, “Ooh, we’re in the middle of dealing with a zombie problem.”

“There’s just no end to them!” spoke up another elf. “We kill them, but more come in to take their place.”

“And we can’t find the source,” Gabrielle added.

“Actually,” Rowan said, smiling mysteriously. “We know  _ exactly  _ what the source is.”

Gabrielle arched an eyebrow, “Do you, now?”

“The Gates of Helheim are opening and letting zombies into the worlds,” Rowan said. “And we’re closing them.”

“You all?” Gabrielle looked at the entire group. “All I see a group of teenagers and criminals.”

“And we’ve already closed the Midgard and Nidavellir Gate,” Rowan said. “And we’re moving on to this one.”

Gabrielle pursed her lips. “I don’t know… My tribe can’t afford to gallivant about the worlds.”

“We just need your help for this one,” Rowan said. “Then you can go back here, but just help us for this one, please.”

Gabrielle tilted her head, looking at her friend before turning back toward her tribe, “What do you guys think?”

“We should help them!” one spoke up.

“Yes, and get rid of those pesky zombies,” another agreed.

A chorus of “aye’s” rose up from the tribe and Gabrielle turned to Rowan with a small smile on her face, “The aye’s have it.”

Acheron was surprised. He hadn’t taken Rowan to be the convincing type. He smiled to himself,  _ At least we won’t have to face this one by ourselves. _

Several of the tribe’s best warriors volunteered to go along with Gabrielle and the gang. She introduced them: Leandre Montviolet, her brother and a skilled wizard; Aveline Charbonnelle a psionicist, and Narcisse Desroches, a hunter.

“Alright, so where are we going?” Narcisse asked. They were a gorgeous elf, and they looked like they were sculpted out of marble rather than made out of flesh, with alabaster skin and silver hair in an undercut and slicked back. But Acheron couldn’t tell if they were a man or a woman.

“A few more kilometers up the mountain,” Rowan pointed upward. “We’ll get to a plateau, and that’s where we’ll find the portal.”

Narcisse nodded, then looked at the group, where they were met with some looks of confusion. “Oh, I get this alot,” they said casually. “I’m non-binary.”

“Which is?” Ara prompted.

“It’s difficult to explain,” Narcisse said. “But I’m not a man or a woman. I have no gender. I… don’t know what to call it, but that’s the best way I can explain it.”

“Chill,” Acheron said. “So what are your pronouns?”

Narcisse looked a bit surprised before they offered a small, relieved smile, “They and them please.”

“They’re accepting,” Aveline noted. She was a petite young woman, with black hair and bangs shifting over her gray eyes as she nodded with approval, “They’re good.”

“Narcisse isn’t the only one questioning things,” Levi spoke up. Acheron looked over at the man. What did he mean?

Narcisse arched their eyebrows, “Oh?”

Levi didn’t speak, so Leandre clapped his hands together. He looked almost identical to his sister: same purple skin, gray hair, and brown eyes. 

“We should get going,” Leandre said.

“My brother’s right,” Gabrielle said. “Another zombie attack could happen at any moment.”

And so they began climbing up the mountain again, all of them feeling good about their odds.

 

Szass Tam was a tall and fine-boned man. Unlike most liches, his face wasn’t rotting; rather, his skin was stretched tight over his skull like a drum. The backs of his hands, however, were withered. He had no hair on his head, but had a wispy black beard and dark eyes, and he wore a scarlet robe with ample sleeves, trimmed with gold and adorned with jewels.

Szass smirked, “No children? You don’t make this fun for anyone, do you?”

“Begone, lich,” Claire snarled. “Before you end up in a ditch.”

Szass laughed a throaty laugh, “Please, Cursed One, the three of you can’t hope to defeat me.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’ve hit my head several times throughout my lifetime, and I’m probably crazy, so I’m going to ignore that!” Dworgyn said cheerfully, tapping the ground with his staff. The ground split open and several zombies pushed their way out from below, snarling and drooling.

“Don’t fool yourself, Dworgyn,” Szass said smoothly. “You know that I, unlike those incompetent buffoons, or even Dmitra, pose a real threat. To the children, to your friends… to  _ you. _ ”

“Dworgyn? Should we attack him?” Cassandra asked.

“Be careful,” Dworgyn warned, then he pointed at Szass with his staff. The zombies lunged.

Szass ducked, and Leo fired a crossbow bolt. The lich dodged several of them, only to be met by Cassandra and her dagger, who knew which direction he’d been going. Szass blocked the attacks with a knife he’d drawn before she kicked him back and Leo fired another crossbow, this one hitting its mark successfully, nailing Szass in the shoulder.

Blood leaked from the wound, but the lich only grinned and ripped the bolt out.

“Dworgyn! He can’t die,” Leo said.

“Correct, he can’t die, per se,” Dworgyn never lost his grin. “But we can destroy his body.”

Szass Tam grit his teeth, spreading his arms, “You’ll never be able to.”

“I think you’ve got us confused with our teenage students,” Dworgyn said. “I’m as old as you are, Szass. I know things about you that nobody else knows.”

Szass’s eyes shrank into slits, “We do not speak of them!” he hissed.

“We don’t. I’m just reminding you,” Dworgyn’s eyes flashed, “that there are still people on your level of power.”

And with that, he struck the ground with his staff, and even more zombies began crawling out towards Szass.

“Hit him with everything you’ve got!” Dworgyn shouted. “If we destroy his body, he’ll have to reform.”

Leo raised his crossbow, “Say no more,” and fired several bolts at Szass Tam, hitting him in the jugular, stomach, and both shoulder.

The lich tore out the one from his throat, causing a fountain of blood to explode outward, but he had no time to remove the others, as Dworgyn’s zombies began forcing him back. He began blasting them dead, and while he was distracted with that, Claire shot two bolts of magic, hitting him dead in the eyes.

“I’m blinded!” the lich screeched, then began blindly shooting the spells in all directions. Claire and Cassandra dropped to the ground, Leo ducked behind a tree, but Dworgyn was too slow to move and was hit by several bolts. He yelped in pain and surprise and was catapulted into a tree.

“Dworgyn!” Leo shouted.

Szass grinned a skull-like grin. “I hear the pain of the little man.”

Leo growled and emerged from behind the tree, firing a barrage of crossbow bolts at the lich, hitting him in almost all his vital organs.

“I’m going in!” Cassandra shouted, brandishing her dagger. Dworgyn’s zombies cleared a path for her as she charged at Szass, who was stumbling around blindly. She raised the weapon and stabbed him in the chest. The lich choked on blood before falling dead.

“He won’t be dead for long,” Claire warned. “I estimate he’ll be back in three days.”

“Well that should be three days where we get things done,” Cassandra said.

A bloodred portal suddenly opened, sucking in Szass’s body. “What was that?” Leo questioned.

“There’s no time to worry about it,” Cassandra said, “We have to help Dworgyn.”

Dworgyn lay on the ground, his entire body hurting from the magic and the fall. “Did you get him?” He asked the others.

“Yes, we did,” Leo said. “And now it’s time to help you.”

“I’m fine,” Dworgyn argued, trying to stand up, but falling back down. “Okay, I’m not fine.”

“Where can we take him? None of us know healing magic,” Claire said.

“The dwarves,” Leo said. “They must have a healer.”

“Alright,” Cassandra said, kneeling on the ground and slinging one of Dworgyn’s arms across her shoulders. Leo did the same on the halfling’s other side. Claire picked up his staff.

“Onto the dwarf village,” Leo said before Dworgyn lost consciousness.


	16. The Juju Zombie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! I missed last week's updated because I was moving and also I went to a fundraiser. There was just too much happening.  
> Anyway, I don't own the name Nymor Thrul or the term juju zombie.

Chapter 16: The Juju Zombie

The climb was not long after recruiting the mountain elves, for soon they came to a plateau where the Alfheim Gate was located, but this time, it was different.

An entire legion of zombies was organized into phalaxes, helmed by a strange zombie.

This zombie looked more alert than the typical zombie, and his skin was not rotting and peeling. Instead, he had smooth skin that was as white as paper, and his hair had a strange green tint to it.

“What is that?” Acheron whispered.

Aroconus, unfortunately, knew exactly what it was, “A juju zombie.”

“A what-what zombie, now?” Romero questioned.

“Juju zombie. It’s advanced undead magic. It involves raising the dead, but allowing them to retain their consciousness, memories, and skills, and they know of their undead state.” Aroconus said, trying to remember what he’d read about them. “They’re characterized by their smooth, pale skin tones and green hair. They’re stronger, faster, and more intelligent than standard zombies, which make them perfect commanders for large groups of zombies.

“We’ve seen him during the attacks,” Leandre whispered. “His name is Nyor Thrul.”

Something drummed inside Aroconus, “I’ve read that name before. Where have I read he name before?” he hissed.

“He’s a wizard. An illusion wizard. If that helps,” Narcisse offered.

“It doesn’t matter,” Levi said. “We have to kill those zombies and close the gate, and someone will have to duel Nymor.”

“I’ll handle him,” Aveline said.

Ara arched an eyebrow, “You? Against a zombie?”

Aveline narrowed her eyes, and suddenly, Ara doubled over, holding her head and groaning in pain.

“What’s the matter, oathbreaker?” Aveline tilted her head. “Feeling a little under the weather?”

Ara released her head and glared daggers at the elf, and Aveline said, “I’m a psionicist. I can handle a zombie.”

“Perfect. Then let’s go,” Zoro said.

They charged out onto the plateau, the nine magic users running towards the gate. With their increased numbers and power, Aroconus had a good feeling about this battle.

Aveline immediately went for Nymor. He was caught off guard, not expecting a small psionicist to attack him, giving her the advantage. The others went to fight the horde of zombies.

“Okay, gather around, just like I told you!” Aroconus ordered. Acheron, Miri, Zoro, Ea, Nexa, Barry, Harleia, and Leandre stood in a circle and joined hands.

“You remember the spell?” Harleia asked Leandre.

“Of course,” the elf said. “Let’s get it started.”

They channeled power and chanted words. The gate started closing even faster because of the extra power. In almost no time, the gate was closed.

“Is it always that easy?” Leandre asked.

“Oh hell no,” Acheron shook his head.

“And now we fight the zombies,” Barry said.

Aroconus looked at the fight between Aveline and Nymor. The zombie had just thrown the elf at a rock. He winced, “That fight doesn’t look too good.”

“Aveline will be fine,” Leandre said.

Aroconus didn’t seem so sure, but he supposed Leandre knew Aveline better than he did. He just wished he could remember where he’d heard the name Nymor Thrul before.

The juju zombie threw Aveline across the plateau. She screamed as she hit the rock, leaving a spot of blood.

“Aveline!” Gabrielle shouted, trying to run over but the zombie horde prevented her.

Aveline struggled to get to her feet and sent out a psionic pain wave, hitting Nymor in the head. Nymor growled, clutching his head and falling to his knees.

And then it hit Aroconus.

“I know what I have to do,” Aroconus declared, before running at the zombie.

“Aro, no!” Zoro shouted.

“Someone stop him!” Acheron shouted.

Lian ran over and grabbed Aroconus’s forearm. “What in Odin’s name are you doing?” 

“No time to explain, just trust me!” Aroconus explained.

After a tense moment, the drow released him with a nod. Aroconus smiled at him before running right up to the zombie.

“Stop!” He held out a hand.

He wasn’t sure what made Nymor stop. Maybe it was the surprise at receiving an order from a teenager.

“Nymor Thrul, is it?” Aroconus said calmly, keeping his hand up. Confused, the zombie nodded.

“Former zulkir of illusion,” he continued.

Nymor tilted his head, “How did you know that?”

“I know what happened to you,” Aroconus said calmly. “You were killed by Szass Tam, right? You were killed because you didn’t abandon your family when you were a zulkir.”

Nymor froze, staring at Aroconus with icy blue eyes. “You have no right to speak of them.”

“And if I could take a guess, I think I know what you want more than anything right now,” Aroconus said.

Nymor laughed, “And what is that, young wizard?”

“ _ Revenge _ .”

Nymor faltered, before his eyes hardened, “Szass Tam would be long dead by now.”

Aroconus shook his head. “Szass Tam lives. He is a lich now.”

Nymor’s eyes narrowed. “He deserves  _ death. _ ”

“He does. Would you like to kill him instead of us?” Aroconus asked.

There was a tense moment, before Nymor hissed, “ _ Yes.”  _ He turned to the legion of zombies. “Back in formation, undead! We march toward the Camp of Witchcraft!”

The zombies, being mindless drones, obeyed without question.

“Sorry about your friend,” Nymor motioned to Aveline as she tilted her head back to stop her nosebleed. Then he started marching down the mountain, the entire zombie legion following him.

“That was… strange,” Miri commented.

“Strange is one word,” Levi muttered.

“Aroconus!” Acheron shouted, running over to his twin and pulling him into a bone crushing hug. Zoro joined them, and when the two released him, Zoro spoke, “He could have killed you!”

“But he didn’t,” Aroconus said. “I know my history. I remember reading about him when I studied the early known history of Thay and the Camp of Witchcraft.”

“Well thank the gods you’re a nerd,” Acheron said.

Aroconus rolled his eyes before calling everyone for healing.

 

Zoro approached the four mountain elves, “Hi, guys.”

“Hello,” Gabrielle said. “Zoro, right?”

“Yes,” Zoro nodded. “I want to ask you guys to do a favor.”

“Which is?” Narcisse asked.

“I know Gabrielle is a tribe leader, but could you guys meet a group of people in Nidavellir? They’ll probably need help,” Zoro said.

Leandre glanced at his sister, but Gabrielle said, “I may not be able to go, but you guys will, right?”

“Who are they?” Aveline asked. Her injuries had been healed by Aroconus.

“Dworgyn Tearm, Cassandra Truth, Claire Voyante, and Leo Knightwalker,” Zoro replied. “They’re going to storm the Camp of Witchcraft soon, to save my mentor Alric Greenfield, and they’d appreciate all the help they could get.”

Leandre looked at Aveline, “You feeling up to it, Ave?”

Aveline nodded, “Oh yeah! That zombie was nothing.”

Narcisse turned to Zoro, “Yes, we will help them.”

Zoro exhaled in relief, “Thank you, guys.”

They nodded.


	17. In the Hall of the Mountain Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a while, one Saturday I forgot and I went "It's okay, there's always next Saturday." And then I didn't upload that Saturday. And the cycle continued for two months. Anyway, here is the link awaited chapter 17.  
> I own Erias Eversharp

Chapter 17: In the Hall of the Mountain Queen

 

Dworgyn opened his eyes, groaning as he sat up.

“Dworgyn?” Leo questioned. “You good?”

“Well, I’m alive, aren’t I?” Dworgyn shifted into a more comfortable position. Besides himself and Leo, the only person there was a dwarf with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Dworgyn squinted, “Who’re you?”

“Erias Eversharp,” the dwarf replied. “Cleric of Sharindlar.”

“Ah. Dwarf goddess of healing,” Dworgyn nodded.

“He healed you,” Leo said.

“Thanks,” Dworgyn said. He moved to stand and was pleasantly surprised to find that he could. “Wow, you’re good.”

“You’re welcome. I know,” Erias smiled cheekily. “You’re a little short for a human.”

“Ah, I’m a tall halfling,” Dworgyn smirked, crossing the room and retrieving his magic staff. He used it as a cane. “Where’s Claire and Cassandra?”

“Resting. They needed it,” Leo replied.

Dworgyn nodded. “Right. It’s important to be well rested before breaking into an evil establishment of the Thay.”

Leo tensed, and both of their gazes panned over to Erias, who was still in the room and still listening. The dwarf smirked, “We’ll discuss this later. Carry on!” He walked over to the other side of the room and began organizing incense.

Leo sighed, but Dworgyn shrugged, “We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

“Just curious, but which Thay headquarters are you breaking into?” Erias called from the other side of the room.

Leo tensed again, sending a glare Dworgyn’s way, but Dworgyn brushed him off before replying, “The Camp of Witchcraft.”

Erias pursed his lips but smirked, “Ooh, that’s a tough one. It’s a shame you don’t know a dwarf cleric with shady ties to that camp and knows almost all the secret passageways in and out of the camp. Oh wait… ya do.”

“We do?” Leo said.

“Me. It’s me. I’m the dwarf cleric,” Erias said.

“Wonderful!” Dworgyn chirped, facing Leo with a smile. “Now we have a way in.”

Leo looked uneasy. _He just has trust issues,_ Dworgyn thought, before looking at Erias, “Does this mean you’re helping us?”

“For a chance to screw things up for the Thay? You bet I’m in,” Erias said. “Like you said, we’ll leave tomorrow. Your other friends won’t mind if I tag along, will they?”

“I don’t think they will,” Dworgyn said. “Cassandra was just lamenting about how we don’t have a way inside.”

“Well now you do,” Erias smiled.

That evening, Dworgyn, Leo, and Erias explained their situation to Claire and Cassandra.

“Brilliant! The gods must have staged it with care. For now, a better chance we will fare,” Claire grinned.

“Does she always rhyme?” Erias asked.

“Unfortunately I do, tried and true,” Claire replied.

“Is it intentional? Do you consciously have to do it? Or is it involuntary?” Erias asked.

Cassandra glared, “You’re prying,” but Claire held a hand to silence her, before replying, “Whenever I speak, I speak in time. Whenever I talk, I rhyme on a dime.”

“Involuntary, then,” Erias said. “I once knew a dwarf named Athrogate who rhymed just for fun. People hated it. He thought it was funny as hell.”

“Must be nice to rhyme for fun, but if given the choice, I’d rhyme none,” Claire said.

“I can imagine,” Erias said.

“Anyway, we’ll have to form a solid plan tomorrow,” Cassandra said. “For tonight, we go to sleep.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and a dwarf poked her head in, “Travellers? There’s a trio here to see you.”

“Very well, bring them in,” Leo sighed.

The door opened and three figures walked in. _Mountain elves._

“Greetings,” said the one with purple skin and gray hair. “I am Leandre Montviolet. Are any of you Dworgyn Tearm, Claire Voyante, or Cassandra Truth?”

 

“Where to now?” Harleia asked.

“Jotunheim,” Acheron answered.

“Our target there is the ancestral mountain home of Thrym,” Aroconus said.

“Thrym?” Barry asked. “I know the name.”

“You should. Thrym is the giant who stole Thor’s hammer and demanded the sun, moon, and Freya in exchange for it,” Aroconus explained. “But because Freya refused to even pretend-marry the giant, Thor had to dress up in a wedding gown and pretend to be here. Loki had to make dumb excuses for Thor’s… unsophisticated habits. Then Thor got the hammer back and murdered everyone.”

“Ah, a story with murder and a crossdresser,” Acheron said. “My favorite kind of story.”

“What’s the mountain called?” Levi asked.

“It’s literally just called Mount Thrym,” Aroconus said.

“Perfect. Nothing too ridiculous to memorize,” Acheron said. “Like, who’s gonna remember Wisteria Mountain?”

Aroconus shot him a flat look, “The mountain grows wisterias and it’s purple.”

“It’s hard for colorblind and nose blind people then,” Acheron said.

“But you’re neither of those.”

“Guys, stop this stupid argument. We need to get to Joutnheim before nightfall. We can camp out there,” Miri said.

“She’s right,” Levi said. “So get moving. I’d imagine most of you would like to sleep.”

 

The sun had already set by time the group got to Jotunheim. They got to Mount Thrym and climbed up a little ways before they pitched up a circle of tents.

The world of the giants was large and cold, and it was currently snowing, but the cold didn’t really bother Levi. He’d spent enough cold nights in Scarlet Prison, and the real cold felt pale in comparison. He just paced the length of the large camp, hands by his swords,

“Guard duty?” Dusk’s voice almost made him jump and fall off the mountain.

 _Keep calm,_ he thought to himself. He didn’t turn to face her, but he could hear the soft crunch of snow beneath her boots as she walked over.

“There’s no giant for miles,” Dusk said. “They don’t like coming to this place.”

“That’s what they want us to think,” Levi said flatly.

Dusk scoffed, “The giants are not smart enough to pull off a conspiracy.”

“I’m not taking any risks, and I’d prefer to guard the camp alone,” Levi said.

“There’s that nobility I remember,” Dusk said, voice almost mocking. “That selflessness.”

Levi stopped, finally facing Dusk. She was grinning, the look in her sapphire eyes jeering him. He leered at her, “This is purely for my survival. I’m finally free from what you subjected me to.”

“Please, you still blame me that?” Dusk rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I do. Because it was your fault,” Levi snapped. “Go hassle Lian. Or Harleia.”

A tent flap was thrown open and Acheron stepped outside, “What the hell?! It’s the middle of the night!”

“Actually, it’s only an hour after sunset,” Dusk corrected.

Acheron waved her off, “Whatever. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“We’re having an _adult_ conversation,” Dusk said.

Acheron wrinkled his nose, “Then get a tent.”

“While I appreciate a good sense of humor, it’s not what I need right now,” Levi said.

“Just go back to your tents, guys, or I’ll set you on fire,” Acheron mumbled sleepily.

Dusk tensed before she said, “Fine,” and she walked back to a tent.

 _As usual, turning tail when things get difficult,_ Levi thought.

“You should go to sleep too buddy,” Acheron said.

“I don’t need sleep,” Levi said. “I’m guarding the camp.”

“Saying ‘I told you so’ tomorrow is going to be amazing,” Acheron grinned before stepping back into his tent.

Levi sighed and continued his patrol.

 

Levi was pleasantly surprised to see Acheron wake up the next morning, only to be disappointed when he saw the man wide awake. Acheron groaned, “You’re a vampire.”

“No, I just don’t sleep,” Levi said, walking across the camp. He and Acheron were the only ones awake.

“I’ll figure out your secret one day, Grace,” Acheron said.

Levi snorted, and it was almost a laugh. “Maybe someday you will, Blackfire.”

“We’re on the right track,” Aroconus said, coming over to them. “The portal will be inside Thrym’s home. But there is a giant guarding it.”

“Simply smashing,” Levi deadpanned. He’d never fought a giant before.

“You’ve battled one before?” Aroconus arched an eyebrow.

“No. But there’s a first time for everything,” Levi said with a wry smile.

“But I have,” Harleia said with a smirk, joining the group.

“Oh?”

“Fire giant, from Muspelheim,” Harleia said. “It was a kill mission. Quite fun.” She wiggled her fingers. “Maybe I’ll manage to throw this one off a cliff too.”

“I don’t think this mountain’s tall enough,” Aroconus pointed out.

Harleia snorted. “You’re no fun.”

Soon, the others woke up and collapsed the camp, then they began walking up the mountain.

“So what’s our plan here?” Levi asked.

“Mm, we’re still working on that,” Jackolopieous said. “It’s hard to make a plan when you don’t know what type of giant you’re up against.

“Plus zombies,” Lian spoke up.

“Well you have me now. I can kill an entire swarm in one fell swoop,” Nexa said.

“We need you to help close the Gate,” Aroconus said.

“Then I’ll handle the zombies after we close it,” Nexa said.

Levi sighed, “That’s great, but how do we kill the bloody giant?”

“Suicide Squad and Rowan, you handle that,” Acheron said. “Rowan, will your sword work on the giant?”

“I’m not quite sure,” the ranger replied.

“Doesn’t it require blood to be sheathed again? You’re going to have to kill it,” Romero said.

Rowan scoffed, “All those myths, about having to kill before being sheathed, being unable to drawn in the presence of a woman, or the daylight thing. None of that is true.”

“Really?” Levi asked, intrigued. “Why does everyone think it’s true?”

“It was started by a bunch of old kings,” Rowan said. “In reality, the Skofnung Sword only has one requirement: it can only be wielded by a demigod. And since my mother is Freya, I’m qualified.”

“So Levi and Rowan can use swords,” Acheron said. “Lian’s a monk. Romero can shapeshift, Torque can rage out, Ara also has a sword, and Astryd has a pickaxe. Gotta say, I’m not really liking your odds.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been alive for longer than you,” Astryd said with a shrug.

“Okay, and that leaves the zombies,” Zoro said.

“We’ll hold ‘em back,” Irene motioned to herself, Krista, Dusk, and Jackolopieous.

“And I’ll have some of my friends help,” Zoro patted his briefcase.

Levi sighed before saying, “Well, this is as good as this plan can get.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” Aroconus squinted at him.

Levi shrugged and gave no answer.

“Ignore him, he’s just being a stubborn ass,” Dusk scoffed. Levi gave her a short glare.

“So where’s the entrance to Thrym’s home? Will it be easy to find?” Romero asked.

Levi scoffed, “Yes, Falone. Thrym’s home just has a giant pair of doors in the side of the mountain.”

Romero made a face, “No need to be insufferably sarcastic.”

“Thrym’s home, in fact, does have a giant pair of double doors, enchanted to look like piles of snow,” Aroconus informed. “As an ice wizard, Miri has the best chance of finding them.” He nodded at the girl and she moved to the front of the group. She scanned the snowy landscape.

“Are we sure she’ll find them?” Levi asked.

“Would you like to give it a go?” Acheron tilted his head. “Surely you, a human with zero percent magic in your blood, will be a better at detecting a snow door than an _actual magic user_. Now shut the fuck up and let the professional work.”

Miri gave Acheron a small smile before continuing forward, the Blackfire brothers following.

Levi arched an eyebrow, and Lian appeared beside him, “It appears you’ve found someone just as insufferably sarcastic as you.”

Levi’s brow climbed higher and Ara scoffed, “Please, we were all thinking it.” The Suicide Squad moved forward.

They walked for at least ten minutes before Miri stopped in front of  big snowpile. “This is it. These are the doors.”

“And how do we get in?” Ara asked.

“Let me see…” Miri kneeled down and brushed some snow, revealing a large, brass, ring shaped door knob. “Here’s our way in.”

“It’s that easy?” Lian said skeptically.

“Hell no,” Miri said. “Nothing’s going to be easy on this quest. This door knob has some lock spells on it.”

“Allow me, locks are my specialty,” Rowan stepped forward and drew the Skofnung Sword. She brought it down on the door knob, shattering it. The snow pile shimmered before revealing a large pair of green doors.

Dusk gave Rowan a dark look, “Next time, let a _real_ magical lock picker handle it.” She bumped the woman as she walked forward, placing her hands on the doors. “No further traps detected.”

“Really?” Levi tilted his head. Thrym’s home was supposedly a notable fortress among giant homes, who almost always turned their homes into fortresses.

“No one’s lived her for ages besides that one giant who’s guarding the open gate. The spells must have worn off with no one to maintain them,” Jackolopieous said.

“Hm,” Levi hummed, still suspicious. If no one was maintaining the spells, why had the initial illusion still been in place? Something didn’t add up.

“Well, guess there’s nothing left to do except storm in and kill things,” Harleia said.

“Right then,” Aroconus flicked his wrist and a gust of wind flew around him, ruffling his robe. It grew stronger and he directed it at the doors. The gust was so strong it forced the doors open, slowly creaking inward.

“Now that’s how you open a door,” Krista grinned.

The teen wizards and the dwarf sisters started inside, but they froze.

“What’s going on?” Dusk narrowed her eyes.

Levi rushed in behind them and saw what had worried them. The corpse of a giant was lying on the ground. The rest of the room was too dark to see.

“The giant’s already been killed,” Levi said.

“Lian? We could use your darkvision in here,” Aroconus called out, his voice edges with nervousness.

The drow walked in, eyes flickering in the dark, but ultimately still purple. He looked around. “I see… an elf.”

“An elf?” Acheron repeated, confused.

“That’s right,” a voice came from the darkness. They all drew their weapons and Levi narrowed his eyes. _I knew it._

Fire flickered, and a bunch of torches that lined the wall were suddenly holding flames, illuminating the main hall. It was old and musty, with a throne at the end of the hallway, where an elf woman reclined in it.

She looked like a mountain elf, with snow white skin, pale purple eyes, lips stained black, and light gray hair in clumps with ice frozen on it. She wore gray and white furs and a slender mountain lion lay at her feet.

“Who the bloody hell are you?” Levi said.

“Eleanor Montgris, the owner of this fine home,” said the woman, leaning down to pet the cougar, “And this beauty is Bertrand.”

“What do we do?” Barry asked. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Now what you doing in my home?” Eleanor narrowed her eyes.

“It’s technically Thrym’s, not yours,” Aroconus said.

“So? Thrym’s dead, and so is this giant,” Eleanor said. “It’s free real estate.”

“Did you kill the giant?” Acheron asked.

“Yes.”

Acheron glanced at the others. They all came to the same conclusion. _This lady is dangerous_.

“Do you know what happens to trespassers?” Eleanor tilted her head. No one spoke, and she laughed, “No one? No volunteers? No matter, I’ll tell you what happens. I _kill_ you. Bertrand, get them!”

“Scatter!” Acheron screeched, just as the cougar leaped out at them. The group scattered and ran on either side of the hall. Thankfully, there seemed to be more paths beyond the throne.

“Get back here!” Eleanor shouted, grabbing a spear.

“Bloody hell!” Levi yelled as he ran behind the throne, down a random hallway. Acheron was following him, and after him was Bertrand the cougar.

“Why did you lead that thing down here?” Levi yelled.

“I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS FOLLOWING ME!” Acheron shouted, turning around and shooting a fireball at the cat. The cat dodged and he screeched, “FUUUCK! KEEP RUNNING!”

“We’ve got to lose it,” Levi declared, and the two continued running.

The back of Thrym’s home, or technically Eleanor’s home now, was an entire maze.

“Why did Thrym have a labyrinth back here?” Levi shouted.

“How the FUCK should I know?” Acheron shot back.

“Right, your brother’s the one with all the useless facts.” Levi said.

After a few minutes of running, they no longer heard Bertrand running after them. The two stopped to catch their breath.

“We’re separated. Bloody brilliant,” Levi muttered.

“And in a maze, no less,” Acheron said. “With no idea where the Gate is.”

“Shouldn’t you have a tracking spell?” Levi asked.

Acheron shook his head, “Barry’s the only one who’s mastered it. Out of the others, I’d say Rowan and maybe Romero could track us. Plus, there’s Eleanor and Bertrand actively trying to kill us.”

“Got it. Basically the situation’s rubbish.”

“Fun,” Acheron muttered and Levi sighed, “We should keep going and try to find some of the others.”

They continued through the labyrinth, making twists and turns and Levi was sure they were going in circles. However, soon, they ran into Miri and Harleia.

“Thank the gods you’re still alive,” Miri said, relief in her voice.

“Please, it’s going to take a lot more than a big cat to kill me,” Levi scoffed.

“What about a murderous mountain elf?” Acheron arched an eyebrow.

“Someone else is fighting her right now, I bet.” Harleia said.

 

Eleanor had given chase after Dusk, Jackolopieous, Romero, and Torque.

“Why do they always go for the good looking ones?” Romero sighed dramatically.

“Jealousy,” Jackolopieous deadpanned.

“Running away?” Eleanor trilled behind them. “How cowardly! Come and face me!”

“We should fight. Not run,” Torque declared, planting his feet on the ground.

“Torque! What are you doing?” Romero hissed.

Torque narrowed his eyes and spun around toward Eleanor, “You want a fight, mountain lady? I will give you fight!”

“Excellent!” Eleanor giggled, pulling out two wicked sharp blades. Either one could cut Torque’s  hammer right off the handle.

“She’ll kill him…” Romero murmured.

“Then we simply have to kill her first,” Jack drew his weapon.

Torque swung his hammer at Eleanor, successfully hitting her and throwing her into the wall. Eleanor screamed, the force of the strike sending her through one of the maze walls. Dusk gaped as Torque grinned, levelling his hammer for a second strike.

“Gods above,” Jackolopieous gasped.

Eleanor got up and shot back at Torque. His reflexes were too slow and she kicked him in the face, sending him falling back. He lashed out with her swords, but Jackolopieous was quicker, using his sword to intercept hers.

Romero morphed into a black panther and a low growl issued from his throat as he prepared to pounce. Dusk summoned her poison knives, before nodding at her brother.

Jackolopieous fell back, and Eleanor grinned as she went for a strike. As quick as lightning, Dusk intercepted, poison flying off her daggers and hitting Eleanor’s furs, sizzling holes into the clothing. Romero came in from behind, sharp claws tearing the fur and her back.

Eleanor cried in pain, blood staining the white furs. She growled, “Heathens! This was good fur!” She jumped up, avoiding Romero’s second pounce, and she kicked Jack as she came back down. Torque lashed out with a fist, beaning her in the face. Eleanor growled before throwing herself at the half-orc, biting his forearm. Torque yelped in pain, hitting his arm against the wall to try to get Eleanor off. Jack grabbed her around the waist and pulled her off Torque.

Eleanor spit on the ground, “You taste worse than you smell!”

“Goddammit, she’s not afraid to fight dirty,” Dusk muttered to herself as she watched Jack throw her across the passage. Eleanor charged, and Dusk began fighting her again, trying to direct the poison toward the elf’s eyes or exposed skin, but she was too fast. She punched Dusk, causing her to reel backward, and the mountain elf leaped over her, crashing into Romero and taking him down with her. She stabbed his shoulder with one of her blades.

Romero screamed, the pain forcing him back to human form. He moaned in pain, gripping his bleeding shoulder.

When Torque saw this, his face went from surprise, to horror… then his gray eyes locked on Eleanor and his expression became murderous.

Jackolopieous pulled himself off the ground and limped over to Dusk, “Enjoy the show, we’re about to watch a half orc rage out.”

“I’ll pull out your arms and force you to eat them!” Torque roared. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Torque grabbed Eleanor’s left arm tightly, and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. Flesh ripped, a bone popped out of place, and blood exploded everywhere.

Torque ripped Eleanor’s arm right out of its socket.

“Jesus Christ,” Jackolopieous muttered as Eleanor screamed in pain and TOrque began beating her over the head with her own arm. It seemed to go forever until Romero, with great pain, forced himself to stand and hobble over to Torque and wrap his arms around the half orc, whispering for him to calm down. The murderous rage in his eyes dulled and he dropped the arm to the ground.

“Is she… dead?” Torque said.

Dusk went over and put her fingers at Eleanor’s neck. A pulse, but faint.

“No… not yet.”

Torque helped Romero stop Eleanor’s bleeding and tie a cloak over the wound, but that’s all they did. Whether she would live or die was now up to the gods.

“That was intense…” Romero murmured. The three of them had helped stop the bleeding, but he still felt rather weak.

“I lost control,” Torque said flatly.

“But you regained it, and that’s what’s important,” Romero gave him a small smile, gently putting his hand on Torque’s stony arm.

Dusk walked head, replaying what she’d just seen. Normally, she didn’t mind a little violence, but that was just… brutal, and all because Romero had been stabbed.

 _The half orc… Torque… truly cares for my brother,_ Dusk thought, glancing back at the two of them. Torque smiled down at Romero and the two interlocked hands gently. It almost made her smile genuinely.

“Dusk? You good?” Jack’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she nodded slowly, “Yeah… I’m just glad it’s her with a missing arm and not one of us.”

Jack nodded before saying, “Now we have the zombies and the portal to worry about.”

 

As they made their way through the maze, Miri heard scream echoing from somewhere else. Acheron muttered, “I hope to Asgard it’s her and not one of our guys.”

“We can only hope,” Miri told him softly.

“I’ve never seen this turn before,” Harleia, who was ahead of them, called.

“Does this mean we’re not walking in circles anymore?” Levi asked.

Harleia grinned wolfishly, “Hopefully.”

They took the turn and continued down the path, until they came to an exit. An actual exit, not just a red herring.

“Freedom!” Acheron pumped a fist into the air.

“And there’s the Gate,” Levi said blandly.

They looked up and saw that the Jotunheim Gate was indeed in front of them.

“What the hell are we supposed to do? We’re down four mages, and you can’t possibly kill an entire horde on your own,” Miri said.

Levi tilted his head, “Is that a challenge?”

“No, unless you want to be overrun and killed.”

“Do NOT get overrun and killed,” Acheron ordered Levi. “You are my ace. I don’t want to lose you.”

Miri swore she saw the corners of Levi’s mouth quirk upward, “Generally it would be me giving orders to you, red.”

“And yet I control that bomb in your neck. Life is funny that way, isn’t it?” Acheron said.

Levi snorted before saying, “So what’s our plan?”

“Wait for more of our party to arrive,” Miri said.

“Then we’re right on time!”

Irene and Astryd came charging out of an exit, followed by Aroconus, Zoro, and Rowan. At that moment, the portal began to shimmer and the zombies began hobbling out.

“ _À l'heure_.” Rowan said, drawing the Skofnung Sword.

The mages ran to the portal and locked hands, reciting the spell to close the gate. It was now second nature to them, and the gate closed in almost no time. Acheron grinned, “We’re getting good at this!”

Levi, Rowan, Irene, and Astryd were mowing through the zombie horde, even in the tight space they were in. Several times, one of them came close to being struck down. Miri found that she was still holding Acheron’s hand, but she didn’t mind. He didn’t pull away, and she almost smiled to herself.

 _Whoa… weird._ She thought.

“A little help here, guys?” Astryd shouted to the users.

“Oh, right,” Aroconus spread his arms and summoned a twister. Zoro shot streams of holy fire, and Acheron shot fireballs. Miri coated part of the floor with ice, causing the clumsy monsters to slip. Harleia used her magic whip to dismember zombies.

Soon, all that was left of the horde was a pile of charred, gray, severed limbs.

“Well, I believe I’ve lost my appetite,” Levi commented.

Irene snickered before speaking up, “So now what?”

Levi glanced at the various passage openings. “Now, we find our friends.”

 

Irene and Astryd took the furthest passage from the left, searching for any signs of their friends.

“I hope I find my sister,” Irene said. “I need to know she’s okay.”

Astryd watched as Irene intently scanned the area for Krista. _Wow… I never knew two people could care about each other._ She thought.

They soon came to a fork in the path and Irene glanced at Astryd helplessly, “Which way?”

Astryd took a look at both options before she said, “Right.”

“And what makes ye say that?” Irene crossed her arms.

Astryd flashed her a ghost of a smirk, “Intuition.”

Irene rolled her eyes, but she followed Astryd. Astryd spoke up, “You care about your sister alot.”

“I care about many people in this group. But yes, I care for her a great deal. She’s my sister,” Irene said.

“You’re going above and beyond to find her.”

“Yes. And I’d do the same for you.”

An unfamiliar sensation tingled as Astryd’s face. Before she could process it, Irene was speaking again, “You seem to state the obvious alot, huh?”

“I don’t usually speak to people, so I guess I have nothing else to say,” Astryd shrugged.

Irene snorted, “Edgelady.”

“Do not call me that.”

“I call it like I see it.”

Astryd grit her teeth but didn’t protest further. She doubted she could dissuade the tough dwarf from using the nickname.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until they came to Krista and Astryd. There were claw marks on Krista’s face.

“Gods of Asgard, sister, what happened to you?” Irene rushed over to her.

“I’m fine, they’re just scratches from the cat,” Krista reassured her.

Astryd glanced over at Ara, who had blood smeared across her white armor. “And you?”

“Fought off the cat,” she answered. “It’s still alive, but I doubt it’ll give us any more problems.”

“Good,” Astryd said curtly. She turned back towards the path they’d come down, “Now to get back to the others.”

The others nodded and the four women began making their way back.

“Let’s see if your intuition will hold up,” Irene flashed Astryd a cheeky smirk. There it was, that sensation again, Astryd thought.

“Trust me, it will,” Astryd told her.

And indeed, Astryd was able to navigate them back to where they’d started. Most of the group was back together now, and the last few were just coming out of the passages. Levi did a quick head count, then confirmed everyone was present.

Acheron raised an eyebrow, “Even Dusk and Romero?”

Levi scoffed, “Even those two. See? They’re right there.” He motioned to the two siblings near the back of the group. Romero gave a sarcastic wave.

“Right then, is there a back exit?” Zoro clapped his hands. “Because if I have to go through another maze on this trip, it’ll be too soon.”

They managed to locate a back exit and they began their descent down the mountain. As they walked, Aroconus said, “This completes the more… tolerable of the Worlds. Now, we move on to the more extreme ones.”

“Perfect,” Levi grumbled.

“Which is why we have to split up,” Aroconus declared.

Astryd halted, causing some of the others behind her to crash into each other. “You’re mental.”

“Some of us won’t survive Muspellheim, or Niflheim,” Aroconus said. “And we’re getting stronger now. We need less people to close Gates. Just for these two worlds, I think we can manage a split up.”

Astryd sighed, but she could see his point. “Fine, then. Who will go where?”

“Let’s go with the obvious: Acheron, Zoro, Ea, Barry and Harleia to Muspellheim, and Miri, Nexa, and myself to Nilfheim,” Aroconus said. He looked around, “Everyone?”

“We’ll go to Muspellheim,” Irene said, stepping forward with Krista.

Astryd felt a strange compulsion to volunteer for Muspellheim, but she knew she couldn’t take the heat. She was better suited for cold weather anyway. So she said, “Nilfheim.”

“Nilfheim as well,” Levi said.

“Us too,” Dusk and Jackolopious stepped forward, and Levi sighed.

“We’ll go to Muspellheim,” Romero said, putting a hand on Torque’s arm.

“Me too,” Rowan said.

“Guess that leaves Lian and me to Nilfheim,” Ara said.

“Perfect! It’s basically even,” Zoro grinned.

“No, it’s not. You guys have one extra. It’s not even,” Levi shook his head.

Zoro waved his hand dismissively, “Close enough.”

“Right then, we’ll meet in Vanaheim after,” Aroconus said. “Now let’s go to the World Tree.”

 

“So you’re going to help us?”

Dworgyn, Claire, Cassandra, Leo,  and Erias were now walking away from Mistwick with their new mountain elf allies: Leandre, Aveline, and Narcisse.

“Yes. A certain Zoro Blackfire asked us to,” Narcisse said.

“Well, he’s a smart kid,” Cassandra said. “We could use the extra help.”

“Great! My sister couldn’t be here, but the three of us are good fighters,” Leandre said. “Now, it’s the Camp of Witchcraft we’re infiltrating?”

“It should be little more than a rescue mission, but getting rid of some enemies wouldn’t be a bad addition,” Claire said.

“So who are we saving?” Erias asked.

“Someone named Alric, yes?” Aveline said.

“Alric Greenfield,” Dworgyn confirmed. “Our magizoologist. Captured along with his apprentice. The apprentice escaped. He didn’t.”

“We can only assume they’re trying to the get the coordinates of our camp out of him,” Cassandra said. “Which means we have to move before they break him enough.”

“If that hasn’t happened already,” Leo said.

“Now, try to think more positive thoughts,” Leandre said.

Leo sighed before saying, “So what’s our plan?”

Dworgyn shrugged.

“You don’t have a plan?” Aveline crossed her arms. “You’re just making this up as you go along?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Dworgyn nodded.

“We’re all gonna die,” Narcisse groaned.

“Don’t worry, that’s not my objective,” Dworgyn said. “First, we have to to get to the World Tree and get back to Midgard.”

“Then we can sneak into the Camp,” Cassandra said. “And I, on the other hand, might just have a plan that’ll work.”

“Now you’re talking,” Narcisse said, flashing her a smile.

Cassandra smirked, “We’re going to need some dark armor and some chains.”

Dworgyn arched his eyebrows, “Kinky.”

“Oh, don’t even start, you old troll.”

 

“Well, here’s the World Tree,” Zoro said. “Funny, Jotunheim is generally the only world that does this tree justice.”

Indeed, the Jotunheim anchor was a massive pine tree, almost half the size of the real Yggdrasil but three times the size of the other mortal anchors.

“Well, time to go,” Harleia said, running her wand down the trunk and opening the portal. The group entered and fell onto a branch.

“At least this time we’re not freefalling,” Miri poked Acheron playfully, and he rolled his eyes, “Oh shut up.”

“So how do we do this?” Miri said.

“Like usual, only we won’t all be falling into the same portal,” Aroconus said. He looked around, then pointed out a fiery red portal. “Looks like that’s the stop to Muspellheim.”

“Fun,” Acheron said. He glanced at his classmates, “See you in Vanaheim, then.” He jumped off the branch. The rest of his team followed. Moments later, Aroconus caught sight of a frosty blue portal, “That’s us.” He said, and the remainder of the team jumped through the portal.


	18. Dragon Slayer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character death in this chapter. Not the most graphic death, but still, be careful

Chapter 18: Dragon Slayer

 

Muspellheim was really freakin’ hot. But Acheron didn’t mind.

The entire world was literally on fire, but nothing was burning away. Hot flames just burned for all eternity. The leaves and grass were ash gray, but intact. It was unnatural, but the heat didn’t bother Acheron. However, he could only imagine what such intense heat would do to people like Aroconus or Miri. His thoughts inadvertently drifted to that nightmare of Miri disintegrating he had last week.

_ Damn, was that last week?  _ Acheron thought. It felt almost a lifetime ago. But now he was glad Aroconus told them to split up. He couldn’t risk losing either of them.

“Hot damn, it’s boiling here,” Irene clapped her hands together.

“You don’t say,” Rowan muttered.

“Right, then! Aro said that the Gate would be on a volcano,” Zoro piped up.

“Not just any volcano,” Rowan spoke up grimly. “The Dragon’s Breath. The largest volcano in a world of fire.”

“Fun,” Acheron crossed his arms. “And how many of us can survive a dip in lava?”

“Only us four,” Harleia motioned to herself, him, Ea and Zoro.

“Great. How will we close the Gate and fight off zombies?” Romero crossed his arms.

“Well, there is a convenient vat of lava to just shove them into,” Acheron said. “Besides, it’s on the volcano, not in it. It should be on the side of it or something.”

“And if it isn’t?” Barry said.

Acheron shrugged, “Then I guess we’re taking a dip in the lava. Hope you packed swimsuits.”

“The lava would burn those away,” Rowan pointed out.

“Then we’ll be skinny dipping in lava.”

“Not gonna lie, that sounds kinda hot,” Harleia winked at them.

Acheron groaned, “That pun killed me, Leia.”

Zoro looked like he was going to say something, but he stumbled over his words, so he shut his mouth. Ea elbowed him and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Dear Lord,” Zoro murmured.

“Now that is an image I did not need in my brain,” Barry shook his head.

Acheron rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Let’s go find the Dragon Breath.”

They began their trek through Muspellheim. Torque spoke up, “What do you think is guarding the Gate?”

“A dragon,” Rowan said.

Barry choked, “What?”

“It makes sense. It’s literally called the Dragon’s Breath.”

“But how can we fight a dragon, and zombies, and not fall inside the volcano?”

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll be able to take care of the dragon if there is one,” Zoro spoke up.

“Oh? You’re saying this to someone with a sword literally called Dragon Slayer?” Irene raised an eyebrow.

“Trust me. I have a secret weapon.”

They soon got to a rumbling mountain, and Rowan announced that it was the Dragon's Breath. They climbed it, the task taking up most of the rest of the day. The sky began to darken while they were up there. 

The Gate was in sight, near the mouth of the volcano. There was a bunch of hardened rock high around the volcano, so there was plenty of room to move and fight, and plenty of formations to hide behind.

They ducked behind one to observe the guardian of the Muspellheim Gate. Scratch that,  _ guardians _ . One was indeed a dragon, a large dragon with glistening red scales. The other was rather humanoid, only he was ten feet tall, with red skin, long black hair, and a pair of black horns. He held a black rod that was topped with a large ruby.

Acheron squinted, “I feel like I've seen that guy somewhere, like in a picture of something.”

Harleia took one look at the demon and her eyes widened and she grit her teeth, “Shit. Shit shit shit.”

“Harleia? Are you okay?” Zoro cast a worried glance her way.

“That's my father. Asmodeus. Lord of the Nine Hells,” Harleia said. “What's he doing in Muspellheim?”

“Standing in our way,” Rowan narrowed her eyes.

Zoro squinted at Asmodeus, before looking at Harleia, “He looks nothing like you.”

“He changes appearances sometimes,” Harleia said. “It's rare for one of his children to look like him.”

“Is there anything that can help us fight him?” Romero asked.

Harleia thought for a moment, “The element of surprise.”

“In that case… I may have a simply elegant solution,” Zoro said. 

“Damn, Zoro, you've got all the solutions today,” Barry grinned. “Care to share?”

Zoro smiled, but Acheron noticed that this time, his brother looked a bit nervous. “Element of surprise, mate. If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore.” He kneeled on the ground and began to unbuckle his case. “I'll start with releasing my weapon against the red dragon. The rest of you, charge and fight whatever gets in your way.”

Acheron grinned. “On it.”

They all jumped out from behind the rock and charged.

Asmodeus's narrowed his eyes and waved a hand at the portal. Almost instantly, the waves of zombies came staggering out of the portal. The demon himself did not attack, instead watching at the adventurers tore through the undead ranks.

The red dragon, however, did not waste any time. He spread his wings and took the air, about to breathe fire, when a second dragon rammed into him. A brass dragon.

“ _ Zoro _ ??” Acheron shouted, glancing back at his brother.

Zoro grinned, “ _ Here's Aeris!!” _ He shouted as his brass dragon began fighting the red dragon.

“Not bad, kid,” Irene grinned. “I’ll be the backup there.” She drew the sword Dragon Slayer, the golden metal glinting in the firelight, before she charged up to where the dragons were, ready to assist Aeris.

Zoro took a deep breath before he said, “Well, here goes nothing.” He turned to Harleia and locked eyes with her, “Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

“Wha-,” Harleia didn’t have time to form a question as Zoro grabbed her hand and the two began running at Asmodeus. As they neared the demon, Zoro yelled up at him, “AH, SO YOU’RE HARLEIA’S FATHER? THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE INTO THIS WORLD!!”

Asmodeus looked very confused. “What.”

Ea dissolved into laughter. Acheron tried to keep it together, but the laughs still came and soon he was howling too. In Asmodeus’s confusion, Zoro yelled a battle cry and chucked his briefcase, hitting the lord of Hells right in the face.

“GUYS, ATTACK!” Zoro screeched.

“Oh, right,” Acheron said, summoning fireballs. Ea did the same beside him, and Rowan drew the Skofnung Sword, “My time to shine.”

She moved with blinding speed, slashing at Asmodeus, who was still disoriented from Zoro’s briefcase of doom. She got several hits, before she murmured a spell in Elvish. Her next slash made Asmodeus’s form ripple. The demon lord screamed in rage, but he soon disappeared.

“Rowan… did you just kill a demon lord?” Krista asked slowly.

“Unfortunately no. All I did was send him back to Nessus.” Rowan replied.

There was suddenly a shout, and Irene was thrown down from the sky. Her head hit a rock and she groaned in pain, blood staining her blonde hair. Dragon Slayer fell after her, wedging itself into a crack in the ground.

“Irene!” Krista cried, running to her sister’s side.

Romero knelt, “She’s losing blood. Shit, Aroconus isn’t here.”

“Hold on, I have a creature that can help,” Zoro ran to retrieve his briefcase.

Acheron looked at Irene. He was sure she was going to survive. It would take more than a simple concussion to kill Irene Bellona. But the red dragon, now that was another story. His eyes locked onto Dragon Slayer.

Krista looked over and her eyes widened, “Acheron, no. If you try to pick it up and it find you unworthy, who knows what the sword will do?”

“Half… elf…” 

Krista glanced back at her sister as she struggled to form a sentence, “Freya said… worthy half elf…”

Acheron narrowed his eyes in confusion, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Take the sword,” Krista said.

“What? But you just said you don’t know-,”

“Take the goddamn sword, Acheron!”

He’d never heard Krista snap before, but he figured it must have been dire if she did.  _ Here goes nothing, _ he thought, and he ran and grabbed the sword by the handle and picked it up.

It felt  _ amazing _ . It was like the sword was made for him. It was like an extension of his hand. He had no sword training, but he knew exactly what to do.

He was vaguely aware of the others watching him. He heard Rowan shout,  “Help him!” And the others shuffled to help Acheron fight the red dragon.

He charged, the sword poised to stab the dragon. Above him, Aeris shot a line of fire into the dragon’s eyes as a diversion. Acheron swung the sword and stabbed it into the dragon’s foot. It roared in pain and red blood exploded from the wound. Acheron pulled the sword back, and the blood flowed into the volcano.

The red dragon began flailing its limbs, and Acheron screamed, “FALL BACK!” He didn’t want anyone falling into the volcano.

Barry and Rowan, however, were too close, and the dragon’s tail hit them. Rowan grabbed onto the edge of the volcano, barely stopping herself from falling.

Barry wasn’t so lucky.

Barry gasped, his mouth forming an ‘O.’ “Acheron-?”

“BARRY, NO!”

But all he could do was watch as Barry plunged into the volcano. Acheron wanted to scream, but he had to help Rowan. He ran over and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back up to the top of the volcano. Once he was sure he was safe, he couldn’t keep it in anymore.

He screamed.

And screamed.

He screamed until his throat was raw. He looked at the weapon in his hands, then at the red dragon. His eyes shrank into slits, “You’re going to hell, beastie.”

Aeris planted his tail on the ground and made a motion for Acheron to climb on. He did so, carefully holding onto the scales. He made it to Aeris’s neck, and he was now above the red dragon. It was a straight shot to his chest. Acheron looked at Aeris, “Ready, boy?”

Aeris roared in agreement. Acheron raised Dragon Slayer above his head and leaped off Aeris, falling right at the red dragon, plunging Dragon Slayer through its heart. The corpse lost altitude, falling toward the volcano. Aeris pursued it, jaws open. Just as the corpse hit the lava, Aeris clamped his jaws around Acheron, and the lava exploded upward. But Acheron and the dragon were safe.

Acheron wasn’t sure how long he spent in Aeris’s mouth, but finally he was let out, and they were far away from the mountain. The rest of the team was climbing down from Aeris’s back.

Acheron coughed, “Damn, it was stuffy in there.”

Barry’s death has caused a somber cloud to fall upon the group. Irene was up and moving now, bandages wrapped around her head. Mount Dragonbreath was still spewing lava.

“The lava will have obliterated any zombies up there,” Rowan said. “Once it stops erupting, we’ll go and close the gate.”

The others nodded.

Zoro walked over to Aeris and patted his snout, “You did good, buddy.”

Aeris rumbled affectionately and Zoro offered him a little smile before he opened his briefcase and the dragon disappeared inside.

“Gods, I can’t believe Barry’s gone,” Ea murmured. She looked up at Rowan, “And you almost died too.”

“It’s not the first time,” Rowan muttered.

“Barry should have lived a long life,” Torque said.

“It’s my fault,” Ea said, her voice quivering. “Nexa and I insisted to go. Barry came with us… if we hadn’t insisted, he’d still be alive.”

Acheron walked over and wrapped a hand around her shoulder, “He knew what he was getting into. It’s no one’s fault.”

Ea sniffled and gave Acheron a half hug. “Just… one minute he was alive, and the next minute, he’s dead.”

“Really puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

The mood lifted a bit after that, but it wasn’t the same. No one was teasing Zoro over his improvised element of surprise. Apparently it had been awkward for both him and Harleia. Neither of them were talking it out.  _ Now that can’t be good. _

There wasn’t much to do while they waited for the volcano to stop spewing, but Acheron approached Irene, “Here’s your sword back.” He presented it with the blade resting in both palms.

Irene gave a short laugh, “It’s not my sword anymore, boyo.”

“It’s not?”

“Freya told us Dragon Slayer would choose a half elf. You’re a half elf, and it chose you. Therefore, your sword,” Irene unfasted the sheath from her back, “I need to give you this.”

Acheron laughed humorlessly, “I’m getting rewarded too much. I couldn’t save Barry.”

“But you saved Rowan. You killed the dragon. You saved all of us,” Irene said. “Losing Barry was a tragedy, but you can’t let it get you down. Don’t let your failures weigh you down. Instead, use them as a motivation to continue being a hero. To do better.” Her voice became a bit more raw as she spoke. Acheron suspected she was speaking from experience.

“It’s the same for you, then?” Acheron questioned.

“Oh yes. Back when I lived in Mithral Hall… so many drow invasions. So many good dwarves died. The years in Midgard have not tarnished the memory.”

Acheron nodded, before he said, “Can I give you a hug, or is that too weird?”

Irene snorted, “Too weird? Come on, boyo, I’m not a stoneheart. Bring it in.”

Acheron kneeled in front of her and the two embraced tightly, savoring each other's comfort for a few moments before they pulled away and Acheron took the sheath from her, “Thank you for the sword and the speech.”

“I can do swords easily, but don’t expect too many speeches,” Irene winked.

Acheron laughed lightly, this time with humor.

 

“Harleia?”

Harleia turned from where she sat watching the volcano. She saw Zoro come up beside her and sit silently. It was about as awkward as it had been at the camp.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she spoke aloud.

“Sorry?”

“The volcano.”

“Right…” Zoro looked down before looking over at her, “Is it always going to be this awkward?”

“You tell me. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been called ‘the love of someone’s life,’ especially not to my dad’s face,” Harleia said.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I figured that would surprise him the most,” Zoro rubbed the back of his neck.

“Because I’m unloveable.”

Zoro’s gold eyes went wide, “That’s not what I meant!”

Harleia smiled wryly. “You don’t have to lie to spare my feelings. My life’s pretty fucked up. I’ve done some crazy shit. I’m damaged.”

“Is that really what you think of yourself?” Zoro asked, eyebrows furrowed his concern. Slowly, gently, he reached over and took her hand, “Because I think you’re sensational.”

Harleia raised her eyebrows in surprise as Zoro smiled sweetly, “I speak only the truth and nothing but the truth.” He reluctantly released her hand and stood up.

Harleia watched him nearly skip back to camp. She almost smiled to herself, “You’re an enigma, Zoro. Not a classic one, but… an enigma nonetheless.” But she found that she was still smiling, smiling of true happiness for the first time in a long while.

 

After about an hour, they began journeying back to the volcano. The lava was beginning to slow. Eventually, they got to the mountain, and the lava was now gently flowing. The mages began climbing it, since they were all fire mages and immune to lava. Plus, all that molten stuff would deter any zombies.

It was one of the smoothest gate closing they’d ever done.

As they walked down, Ea said, “I’d catalogue this trip as one of the weirdest.”

“And depressing,” Acheron muttered. “We have to break the news to the others.”

Ea sighed. “Yeah.”

They approached the others and Rowan immediately rose to her feet, “Is it done?”

Acheron nodded. “Yeah. And now we move on to Vanaheim.”


End file.
